Kindred Spirits
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Anne Boleyn meets Louis XVI in the afterlife, and they form a very close bond.
1. Welcoming A New Arrival

As soon as she saw him, she knew that he was a newcomer. He had that look of confusion mixed with wonder that she had come to recognize in more than two hundred years. He was of average height and slender, with longish dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, and he had an olive complexion. She would have guessed his nationality to be French, and from his demeanor, she would have guessed him to be a member of royalty or at least the upper class.

He saw her and smiled shyly, hesitantly. She smiled back at him warmly, reassuringly.

"Hello. I'm Anne," she said, extending her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Anne. My name is Louis." He took the hand she offered him and kissed it, which completely charmed her.

"Am I correct in assuming that you're a new arrival?" she asked him.

"Yes, madame. I only just got here today."

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you die?"

"I was executed by guillotine. It was a really horrible death. My head was at an awkward angle and they had to release the blade three times before it was finally completely off."

Anne gasped, shocked. Whatever a guillotine was, it was certainly less efficient at decapitation than was the sword which had taken her own head.

"You?" he asked her.

"I was beheaded also, in my case, by sword. My husband, the King, grew tired of me because of my inability to give him a male heir, so he fabricated stories of adultery, incest and witchcraft and condemned me to die."

It was Louis' turn to be shocked. "You were a Queen, then?"

"I was the Queen of England for a thousand days, from 1533 until 1536."

"Oh, Anne, I am so sorry." Louis did indeed look devastated. "You are much too beautiful to die as you did."

Anne felt a pleasant warmth come over her as she looked into Louis' oh-so-dark eyes, which were so very different from Henry's blue ones.

"And you seem entirely too much of a gentleman to die as you did," Anne replied. "For what were you executed?"

"I was convicted of high treason. My countrymen became frustrated at my country's dire economic situation and overthrew me." So she had been correct about his being a member of royalty; not only that, but a King, no less.

"And what country was that?"

"France." She had been correct about that as well.

"It seems we have a bit in common." She smiled pleasantly as he took her arm and they began to walk together.

"Indeed it does." He smiled back, looking more confident this time.

"Were you married?"

"My wife was Marie Antoinette of Austria. It was an arranged marriage. I first met her the day of our wedding in 1770."

"Was it happy?"

One look at his face and she had her answer.

"Marie was very extravagant, given to excessive spending. She held a lot of parties and liked to gamble. I was more of an introvert and preferred a quiet card game with friends. She was unfaithful to me as well. She had an affair with the Swedish count Axel von Fersen. I knew about it but said nothing, as a conviction of adultery would have probably meant execution for her. Our daughter was still very young then, and I couldn't bear the thought of little Marie Therese growing up without her mother."

"My daughter Elizabeth was only three years old when I was put to death," Anne said quietly. "I was able to watch her grow up from here, of course, but it wasn't the same as if I could have actually been there for her physically. It really hurt me to watch her go through rough spots and not be able to help her as I wished that I could."

"That's terrible," Louis said softly. "I'm so sorry." He looked as if he wanted to give her a hug but was afraid to.

"It's all right. I think it's the reason I have such an affinity for helping newcomers to become adjusted to life here. It gives me the chance to act maternal in a way that I never had much of a chance to in life."

"You do seem very kind," Louis said.

"As do you," Anne replied. Her eyes held a far-away look. "I do so wonder..."

"What?" His eyes sparkled with curiousity.

"I wonder what it would have been like if we had both lived on earth during the same time period and had met one another during our lifetimes. Oh, well, no point in thinking about that now." She sighed heavily, and her eyes filled with tears.

He gave her a look that couldn't have been more tender and smiled. "It doesn't matter, dear Anne. This place is more beautiful than anywhere on earth, and we're here, together, safe and whole. And there's nothing I look forward to more than getting to know you better."

Suddenly she felt as if her heart had wings. She looked at Louis and thought that she had never seen a man with a more beautiful soul. "We can take all the time we want," she said.

"Can I give you a hug?"

"I would love that."

He did, and to her it felt better than anything else had in over two hundred years.


	2. Daisies

"Thank you. That was very nice," Anne told Louis.

"You're very welcome. I enjoyed it, too," he replied.

Hand in hand they stolled along, until Louis told Anne to stand still where she was. She did, and he stepped away a few feet.

"I just can't believe how lovely you look surrounded by daisies," he said. He picked one and wove it into her hair.

"Now you're even more beautiful." He came and stood beside her. She felt his arm slowly move to encircle her waist, and she rested her head on his shoulder. As he was a few inches taller than her, it was quite easy for them to assume the pose.

After awhile, he took her hand and began running through the grasses with her. They ran until they came to a tree with low-hanging branches, which Louis began to climb as Anne watched hesitantly.

"Come on," he gently urged her. He helped her up, and soon they were sitting side by side on one of the higher branches. From where they sat they could see far into the horizon. Louis' arm slowly crept around Anne's waist again.

"If while on earth we knew what was to come after, we wouldn't fear death nearly as much," he said softly.

"As a child, I was taught that there was a heaven, but the impression I got was that of a rather monotonous existence where one basically simply sat on a cloud and played a harp all day. It was never presented to me as something to look forward to in particular."

Louis laughed. "I was taught pretty much the same thing." His eyes twinkled. "Of course, how monotonous one would find it would undoubtedly depend on the degree of loveliness of one's fellow harp players."

Anne giggled. "Are you flirting with me?"

Louis blushed slightly. "Forgive me. It's such fun, and I never did while on earth."

"You never flirted, you mean?"

Louis shook his head. "I was always so painfully shy around women. Marie was the first woman I ever...kissed."

"How old were you when you were wed?"

"I was fifteeen, and Marie was fourteen. She was much more confident than I was. For seven years she tried...but I just couldn't..." He was stammering and looked quite uncomfortable. Anne put a comforting hand on his knee.

"I never visited Paris, but I found Calais quite lovely," she said.

"How I wish that I could take you there," Louis said gratefully. "It's the most amazing place on earth during peacetime."

"London is quite a remarkable city as well. Have you ever been there?"

"I'm afraid our respective countries weren't the best of friends during my lifetime." Louis laughed. "To have visited London would have meant almost certain death for me."

"That's sad."

"Indeed. I'm sure it's a grand city."

"My body lies in the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London."

"Please, let us speak of other matters. It hurts me deeply to think of what was done to you."

"You only just met me, and yet you speak of me as of someone you know well."

"Strangely, I feel as if I do." His arm tightened around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder once more.


	3. Meeting Friends And Family

"Louis, this is Jane Seymour," Anne said. "In life we were bitter rivals, but since her death, we've become the best of friends."

"Pleased to meet you, madame," Louis said to Jane, who smiled and curtseyed.

"Jane was Henry's third wife, and he married her only eleven days after my death," Anne added.

Louis gasped, shocked and dismayed.

"It's all right, Louis," Anne said. "She joined me here only fifteen months later."

"I died from complications in childbirth," Jane said.

"Jane was able to give Henry the son I never could," Anne said sadly.

"And doing so cost you your own life," Louis commented.

Jane nodded. "My son was only king for six years. He died of consumption when he was only fifteen years old."

"I'm so sorry," Louis managed to stammer. His head was still reeling from all this new information.

"It's all right. He's perfectly healthy now. His name is Edward. You will meet him soon."

Louis began walking with the two women. Anne's arm was linked with Louis' arm on one side and Jane's on the other.

"Wasn't meeting again quite awkward for both of you?" Louis asked.

"It was very awkward for me. I thought that she must really hate me and dreaded facing her anger," Jane told him.

"As soon as I saw her, alone and grief-stricken, I knew that I could never hate her," Anne said. "She was a victim as well, only in a different way."

"If the babe I had borne had been a daughter rather than a son, and if I had lived but been unable to bear more children, I'm sure that my fate would have eventually been the same as Anne's," Jane added. "In that respect I feel that we are truly sisters."

"Is Henry here as well?" Louis was suddenly very curious.

Both women burst out laughing. Louis was puzzled.

"Oh, he's here, all right. He doesn't have the most pleasant of occupations, however. He has to spend eternity cleaning manure out of the heavenly stables. Do you remember that verse in the Bible about reaping what you sow? Well, in Henry's case, it became quite literal," Anne told him.

Louis laughed out loud. He couldn't help it. "I find it hard to believe that such a thing as manure even exists in such a place as this."

"Where there's horses, there's manure. They _do _eat, after all, and what they eat has to go _some_where. And heaven wouldn't be the same without horses, would it?"

"You've got a point there," Louis admitted. "I've always loved horses."

They were approaching a park. A boy of about eleven and a girl of about six saw them coming and raced toward them, excited.

"Father!" they shouted. They both ran to Louis, who showered them with hugs and kisses.

"Meet my son Joseph and my daughter Sophie," Louis said. "Joseph arrived here at age seven, Sophie at eleven months."

"They are such beautiful children," Anne said.

"It broke my heart to lose each of them," Louis said sadly. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see them again."

"I know," Anne said sympathetically. "I lost three of mine before they were old enough to survive outside the womb. It was such joy to be reunited with them here. It took some of the sting away from being forced to leave Elizabeth at such a tender age."

"Will you push me on the swing, Father?" asked Sophie.

"I'd love to, sweetheart," Louis told her.

Anne watched the little girl's dark brown hair fly in the breeze as her father pushed her on the swing and thought that it was the most picturesque scene she had witnessed in a very long time.


	4. Visiting Earth

"Is it possible to observe our loved ones who are still alive from here?" Louis asked Anne.

"Yes, and what's even better is that we may still pay short visits to earth when we wish," Anne replied. "Our loved ones can't see or hear us, but we can see and hear everything that goes on just as if we were still in our earthly bodies. For instance, I was present at Elizabeth's coronation in 1558. It was the proudest moment of my life, I mean...well, you know what I mean. I was also there when she defeated the Spanish Armada thirty years later."

"I'm so happy to hear that," Louis said. "I would so love to know how my two living children, Marie-Therese and Charles, are doing."

"I will take you there," Anne promised him. "But first, there are some more people here whom I would like for you to meet. Some of them I knew in life, and some I met for the first time here."

First was Elizabeth. Her youth had been restored to her upon her death, and her face was once again unlined and her hair bright red.

"I've heard of you. I know that you were a great queen," Louis told her.

"It was difficult, at least in the beginning," Elizabeth said. "Not many people believed that a woman could be a successful ruler. I had to prove myself. Many were against me, including my own cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. It took a while, but over time, I earned the respect of the English people."

"Keeping the respect of one's subjects can be even more difficult," Louis said. "I learned that myself, the hard way."

Next were the three children Anne had lost through miscarriage. Their names were Henry, George, and Eleanor. Having lived only in heaven, they couldn't really comprehend what it would have been like to have lived on earth.

"I was supposed to be my father's heir," Henry told Louis. "If only I had lived, perhaps he would have permitted my mother to live as well."

"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't help it." Louis felt bad for the young man.

"I know that, but I did hate to see what he did to her, although I was happy to meet her for the first time when she arrived here."

Next were George and Mary Boleyn, Anne's brother and sister.

"I was executed two days before Anne was. I was falsely accused of having an incestuous affair with her," George told Louis.

"You have every right to be angry and bitter about that," Louis replied.

"I was frightened and confused more than anything else. What I feared most of all was what was to become of my beloved sister. It broke my heart to see her led to the scaffold. I couldn't bear to watch the sweep of the sword that ended her life. I'm only glad that her suffering was as brief as it was."

Next were Katherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary.

"I was Henry's first wife," Katherine told Louis. "When I was no longer able to give him children, he sought to divorce me and, in so doing, broke away from the Catholic church and formed the Church of England with himself as its head."

"I was the cause of both the divorce and the split with the Catholic church," Anne admitted. "Henry became infatuated with me, and I encouraged it. I was very ambitious and power hungry. I wanted to be the Queen of England. I eventually got what I wanted, but in the end I paid dearly for it."

"I know you did," Louis said gently.

"Katherine does have every right to hate me, but she has forgiven me, as I forgave Jane," Anne said.

"When I first saw her after her arrival, I could feel only pity for her, knowing as I did of the young child she left behind," Katherine explained. "To have been separated from my Mary when she was that young would have been a sorrow I couldn't have borne."

Next was Anne of Cleves. "I was Henry's fourth wife, but the marriage was never consumated, and he had it annuled six months later," she told Louis.

_It sounds like you were the lucky one, _Louis thought, but he didn't say anything.

Next was Katherine Howard. "I was Henry's fifth wife," she told Louis. "I had an affair and was executed for adultery."

"Katherine is also my cousin," Anne added.

Last was Katherine Parr. "I was Henry's widow," she said. "He died several years after we were married. After that I was married to Jane's brother Thomas. I died of complications in childbirth after my daughter Mary was born."

"Well, what do you think?" Anne asked Louis afterwards.

"That's incredible." Louis shook his head in disbelief. "Fascinating and yet very sad. Most of them came to such unfortunate ends. Why was your cousin Katherine foolish enough to commit adultery when she knew what the consequences would be if she were caught?"

Anne sighed. "Katherine was very young and impulsive. At that age, one often fails to consider the consequences of their actions."

"She reminded me so much of Marie," Louis said. "Much more so than did any of the others, although Anne of Cleves resembles Marie the most physically."

"Anne of Cleves is German."

"Well, no wonder, then. Marie is Austrian."

"Now for that trip to earth I promised you."

"How does this work?"

"It's really rather simple. All you have to do is close your eyes and concentrate very hard on the place, or the person, that you want to visit."

They held hands and closed their eyes, and within moments they found themselves in a scantily lit room containing a table and chair and a cot. There was only one window, and it was high up on the wall. On the cot sat a girl of about fourteen. Her face bore a strong resemblance to Louis' but she had blonde hair. She was crying.

Louis approached her and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. _"Ma petit cherie, ma petit amour," _he said.

The girl stopped crying and looked up, startled. "Father?" she asked. She looked around swiftly, then lay curled up on the cot with a contemplative expression on her face. Louis stood beside the cot gently stroking her hair, and as he did so, Anne could see the girl's face relax. Louis kissed her cheek and she smiled slightly.

When Louis looked back at Anne, he saw that tears were streaming down her face. She was recalling all the similar experiences she had shared with Elizabeth during her daughter's growing up years.

"She will be all right," Louis said softly.

Soon they found themselves in an adjoining room of the same building, which seemed to be a type of prison. In the room were three people: a man, a woman, and a boy of about eight. The man was shouting at the boy, who looked very frightened.

"No, no, please no," Louis whispered. Anne could see how upset he was becoming and knew that it was time to return to heaven. Gently but firmly, she clasped Louis' hand, and in a brief instant they were once again standing in a green field with a gentle wind blowing the grasses.

"I couldn't help him." Louis' voice was choked with grief as Anne looked into his sorrowful eyes. "They were going to hurt him, and I couldn't do anything about it."

Anne wished dearly that she could think of something to say that would comfort her friend, but no words would come.


	5. Marie Antoinette

**October 16, 1793**

Anne saw that Louis was observing events of earth and, being curious, joined him. He glanced up at her approach.

"I do this very rarely, as it hurts me so to see what the insurrectionists are doing to my beloved France, but I have to watch today," he told her. "Today is the day Marie arrives here."

Anne watched as a cart containing two men and a woman moved down a street in Paris. The woman was a fair-skinned, blue-eyed blonde. She wore a white dress and a white cap with a black ribbon in it, and her hands had been tied behind her back. Crowds jeered as the cart moved along.

It finally came to a stop just outside the Palace of Les Tuileries, where Anne saw what she guessed must be the guillotine. It was simply a very large, very sharp blade suspended between two boards on a scaffold, with a basket beneath it virtually identical to the one beneath the scaffold on Tower Hill.

As the three climbed out of the cart and the executioner and his assistant assumed their usual places beside the guillotine, Louis quickly turned away and covered his face with both hands.

"I can't watch anymore," he moaned. "In spite of everything, I simply cannot watch the woman who bore my children die."

Anne put her arm around his shoulders in a gesture of comfort, wondering whether or not Henry had watched her own death. She quickly decided that she truly didn't want to know the answer to that question.

A few minutes later, the woman in the white dress stood directly in front of Anne, facing her. The look on Marie Antoinette's face was haughty, defiant. Her gaze fell first on Louis, who stood watching with something akin to reproach in his eyes, then on Anne, whom she regarded coolly. Anne took one step closer to the other woman.

"Did you truly love him?" she asked quietly.

Marie's expression changed from defiance to sulkiness, then finally to shame. She hung her head and walked slowly away.

Anne turned to Louis, her eyes full of tears.

"I'm so very sorry." Her voice was choked with sobs. "She doesn't know what she had."

"Please don't cry for her, _cherie." _Louis' voice was soft, consoling. "She's not worth your tears."

"But you are." Anne tried to meet his eyes but couldn't.

"But there's no reason to cry for me." Louis lifted her chin ever so gently and looked directly into her eyes. He was smiling serenely, and his own eyes were shining with an emotion that made her heart flutter and her knees go weak. "I _do _know what _I _have."

"Do you mean..."

"Were you worried?" He sounded almost amused.

"Worried?"

"Did you fear that seeing her again would stir feelings of desire within me?"

Anne suddenly realized that that was exactly what she had feared.

Louis laughed and shook his head. He embraced her, and she hugged him back fiercely. She felt dizzy with relief and...something else.

_"Je t'aime, _Anne." He whispered the words because he lacked the courage to say them aloud.

He wasn't sure that she had heard him, but she had.

"I love you too, Louis," she whispered back.

Suddenly, they found themselves in a huge room occupied by a large canopied bed with very expensive-looking covers and lots of fluffy white pillows.

"Where are we?" Anne asked.

"The master bedroom of the Palace in Versailles. I momentarily forgot how powerful our thoughts are now," Louis said apologetically.

"Why, that's perfectly all right!" Anne laughed. "This is perfect. You're perfect." Her eyes traveled impishly down Louis' body. "But it looks to me as if your pants are uncomfortably tight. Here, let me help you."

"Do you mean that we can, even now? But I always just assumed..."

"That we can't anymore now that we've crossed over? But why couldn't we? We still have bodies, don't we?"

Anne swiftly and deftly removed Louis' clothing and was pleased to discover that he was better endowed than Henry had been. She couldn't resist pleasuring him with her mouth, which he obviously enjoyed so immensely that Anne was touched. She wondered whether or not Marie had ever done that for him, and concluded that she probably had not.

When Anne realized that Louis was almost over the edge, she switched to kissing him passionately on the mouth as he timidly began to undress her. She helped him and, when she was completely naked, they both climbed onto the bed, which proved to be so comfortable that Anne felt as if she were floating on clouds. She felt Louis enter her and moaned appreciatively.

It ended very quickly, which embarassed Louis acutely.

"I'm so very sorry, _mon amour. _It's just that it's been such a long time..."

"Oh, that's quite all right! Please don't worry about it, darling Louis."

"But I wanted you to experience pleasure as well..."

"As I did."

Louis looked greatly relieved.

"This bed is so comfortable that I think I want to stay on it forever," Anne said.

"I've always been somewhat partial to it myself." Louis laughed and held her close, caressing and kissing her. She closed her eyes and felt deliciously warm and drowsy.

"It's amazing," Louis told her. "I've never before felt this unity, this oneness with the soul of another, that I feel with you right now."

"Not even with Marie?"

"With her it was primarily for the sake of producing heirs." He suddenly thought of something. "That's no longer possible now, is it?"

"I don't think so. In more than two hundred years, I've never heard of it happening even once," Anne told him. "I suppose it's no longer practical to reproduce ourselves when we can continue on forever here."

"I never thought of it that way, but you must be right."

"Of course, it was primarily my failure in that department that led to my premature departure from the world below." There was only the slightest trace of bitterness in Anne's voice.

"I want to meet him."

"Henry? But why?"

"I don't really know why," Louis confessed. "Perhaps I just want to find out for myself what kind of man could have done what he did after...after...oh, Anne." Louis' voice broke and he couldn't finish. All he could do was to hold Anne as if he would never let her go, whispering endearments in French. Anne didn't understand all of them, but she knew that they were for her.

"I will take you there, darling Louis, if you're sure that's really what you want."

"Only if it won't cause you any additional pain, of course."

"Oh, no, that's quite all right."

Within seconds they both stood just outside a white fence bordering heaven's stables, watching a man with a shovel busily at work. He was tall and very large, with auburn hair plastered to his head with sweat. His clothes were dirty, and no crown adorned his head now.

In the distance an angelic band played a haunting tune.

Henry sensed that he was being watched and turned to face Louis and Anne. Louis' arm slipped protectively around Anne.

Henry just stood staring at Anne, speechless, his eyes filled with a mixture of longing and remorse.

"Now I know it's true that sometimes people really do create their own hell," Louis said softly.

Anne recognized the song being played by the angelic band. It was 'Greensleeves.'

"That's a beautiful song, but I don't believe I'm familiar with the words," Louis commented.

"I'll be happy to teach them to you," Anne told him. She didn't feel the least bit sad.


	6. Let Them Eat Cake

_A/N: I know she never really said that but thought that it would still make a nice title for this chapter..._

"So, what would you like to do now?" Louis was suddenly in a jovial mood.

"Well, since we're here anyway, we might as well ride horses," Anne suggested.

"I was hoping you would suggest that," Louis said.

They both chose horses, and Louis gallantly helped Anne up onto hers.

"Marie and I used to go horseback riding together often," Louis said, then suddenly looked guilty. "Sorry."

"It's all right. I don't mind if you talk about her. She was an important part of your life, just as Henry was of mine." It never ceased to amaze Anne that Louis, although he had been a King in life, was the most humble man she had ever met.

"Well, where do you want to go?" Louis asked.

Anne shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, does it?"

Louis laughed. "No, I don't suppose it does."

Presently they came upon another couple on horseback who greeted Louis warmly. Anne noticed that they both resembled Louis closely.

"This is my brother Joseph and my sister Marie Zephyrine," Louis told Anne.

"Anne was the Queen of England in the sixteenth century. She has become a very dear friend of mine since my arrival here," he told his siblings.

"It's very nice to meet you," Anne said.

"But what of your wife?" asked Joseph.

"Marie Antoinette arrived recently," Louis said softly. "But she is no longer my wife, as my death severed our marital bonds." Joseph still looked at bit confused, as did his sister.

"My brother and sister both died in childhood, so they have little understanding of such matters," Louis explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Anne.

"I died of tuberculosis at the age of nine," Joseph told Anne. "I regret to say that the last exchange I had with my brother was an unpleasant one, and that it was my fault."

"Don't say another word about it. It was forgiven long ago," Louis assured him. "Besides, you were in terrible pain at the time, and so can hardly be blamed for the mood you were in."

"But you were only six then, so you didn't understand that."

"But I'm an adult now, so I understand it perfectly."

"I was only five when I died of convulsions," Marie Zephyrine told Anne. "Joseph was not quite four, and Louis was just a baby."

"I missed her very much while I was growing up," Joseph added.

"I feel very sorry for both of you," Anne told them. "Death at such a young age meant that you missed out on ever having the chance to marry and become a parent."

"Yet neither have we ever suffered a broken heart or the loss of a child to death, as our parents did," said Marie Zephyrine.

"As did Louis and I also," Anne said.

"Tell me about your children, Anne," said Marie Zephyrine.

"Of my four children, only Elizabeth survived," Anne said. "She became a great Queen. My other three children were miscarried."

"Are you the mother of Elizabeth I of England, then?" Joseph was astonished.

"Indeed I am," Anne said proudly.

"I hope that my Marie Therese becomes equally successful in adulthood," Louis said. "I have the feeling her brother Charles may be joining us soon." Louis looked very sad.

Anne covered his hand with her own, and their eyes met. "It will be all right," Anne said softly. Joseph and Marie Zephyrine watched them curiously.

"I see that you and my brother have become very good friends indeed," Marie Zephyrine told Anne.

"Yes, we have," Anne replied, once again feeling a little sad for the young woman.

They rode horses for awhile longer and then Louis suggested going to the bakery for croissants. Anne wasn't terribly familiar with them but trusted Louis' judgement. Louis' siblings seemed enthusiastic.

At the bakery they discovered what Marie Antoinette's new occupation was. Behind a counter they saw her up to her elbows in cake batter, busily working while a table full of French peasants grumbled impatiently.

"I'm going just as fast as I can," she whined. A speck of cake batter on her nose gave her a somewhat comical appearance.

"Isn't heaven wonderful?" Louis asked her.

"My feet hurt," she complained.

"You should wear appropriate shoes, then," Louis laughed. Marie glared at him, then returned to her duties.

"She still has a few adjustments to make," Louis said to Anne as they found seats and waited patiently to be served.


	7. Heaven's Nursery

Anne showed Louis a large area with many cribs. Each crib was decorated with a ribbon, some pink, some blue.

"This is heaven's nursery," Anne told Louis. "It's where miscarriages, stillbirths, and those who die in infancy come. They stay here until they are a bit older, and then they go to the children's section."

Louis busily walked from crib to crib, looking at each tiny, perfect little body. Those who had been hideously deformed at conception were perfectly healthy here.

"I adore babies," he told Anne. "Watching Marie Therese's birth is one of my most precious memories. There's nothing in the world like seeing a new life that you helped to create enter the world. I've never felt such overwhelming love as I did at the moment I heard her first cry."

He noticed that Anne looked a bit sad and grew anxious. "What's wrong, _ma cherie?"_

"Oh, it's nothing." Anne smiled bravely and wiped a tear away.

"It's not 'nothing' if it makes you cry." Louis gently lifted her chin to look into her eyes. She saw the love there and felt immeasurably comforted.

"I was just remembering how disappointed Henry was that Elizabeth was a girl," she said softly. "And she was such a beautiful baby. Simply beautiful."

"I know she was, _mon amour." _Louis embraced Anne and held her tightly, stroking her hair for a few moments.

They continued on until they met up with Jane Seymour, who was accompanied by a young man. "This is my son, Edward," she told Louis.

"I'm very pleased to meet you," Louis said, shaking Edward's hand.

"Since I died in childbirth, I never really got to be a mother to him while on earth," Jane continued. "Many of the others who work in the nursery are also women who died in childbirth. Since we never got the chance to care for our own babies, we enjoy looking after these little ones whose parents are still on earth."

"It's also a chance for people like me to experience a little bit of what being a parent is like," added Edward. "I always wanted to be a father very much, but I died of tuberculosis when I was only fifteen."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," said Louis.

"I was supposed to marry my cousin, Lady Jane Grey. After I died, she married Guilford Dudley instead. Both of them were put to death for refusing to convert to Catholicism at the beginning of my sister Mary's reign. They're both here as well. You will meet them soon," Edward continued.

"Those two are every bit as much in love now as they were two hundred years ago," his mother added. "They're one of the sweetest couples I know."

Just then Marie Zephyrine appeared. "I know I've seen you around before," she said to Edward.

"Edward the sixth of England," he said with a friendly smile.

"I'm Marie Zephyrine of France." Marie smiled back as she shook Edward's hand.

"It's lovely to meet you," Edward said. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"That sounds wonderful!"

Edward took Marie's arm, and they walked toward the street together.

"They look so nice together, don't they?" said Anne.

"It's amazing," Louis remarked. "I just thought of Marie, and all of a sudden, she was there."

"You'll find that that happens a lot up here," Anne said. She and Jane both laughed.

"It had just occurred to me that she and Edward might get on well together," Louis continued.

"I think they make an adorable couple," Anne agreed.

"It's a pity, isn't it, that there's no marriage or birth here."

"I only said that as far as I _know, _there isn't," Anne gently corrected him. "Even though I've been here for over two hundred years, I've still seen only a small portion of heaven and its wonders. For all that I know, it may well be that there are circusmstances in which people who died young may marry and have children here."

"I hope so, for their sakes," Louis said.

"You're certainly one of the kindest hearted people I've ever met," Anne told him. "I'll wager that you even think kindly upon those responsible for your death."

"If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now, would I?"

"You certainly have a very interesting way of looking at things." Anne laughed, and Louis laughed with her.


	8. Amy

Anne was enjoying a mother/daughter day with Elizabeth, and Louis was spending the day with his brother Joseph. They were talking with Guilford and Jane Dudley when a slender, petite blonde approached them. She was holding a baby.

"This is my sister-in-law, Amy," Guilford told Louis and Joseph.

"It's wonderful to meet you," Joseph said. "Is this your little one?"

"Oh, no." Amy laughed. "I just borrowed her from the nursery for a few hours. Isn't she adorable?"

"Utterly. May I hold her for a few minutes?"

"Certainly." Amy handed the baby to Joseph.

"Hello there, _ma belle petite fille." _Joseph smiled, and the baby smiled back.

"I think she likes me," Joseph said.

"Of course she does." Amy smiled, then looked sad. "I never had any children, although I wanted them very badly. You see, I was only twenty-eight years old when I died."

"How sad! What happened?"

"I fell down some stairs and broke my neck."

"How dreadful!"

"Not that my husband mourned me at all," Amy added bitterly. "He was in love with the Queen. He wished for my death so that he'd be free to marry her."

"Oh no! What Queen was that?"

"Elizabeth the first of England."

Louis was shocked. But Anne's daughter had never married...

Amy must have noticed the look of confusion on his face as her next comment was directed at him.

"Oh, she never did marry him. She couldn't due to the scandal caused by my death. It was even rumored that either she or Robert may have been responsible for what happened to me."

"Was there any truth to the rumors?" Louis asked. He was profoundly glad that Anne was not in their company that day.

Amy didn't answer.

"That must have really hurt," Joseph said softly.

Amy nodded. "I truly loved Robert, and for a long time I thought that he loved me too. Then Elizabeth became Queen and Robert went to work for her in the royal stables. He quickly became her favorite." There were tears in Amy's eyes. "I don't think they had an actual physical affair, but that wasn't for any lack of desire on Robert's part, that's for sure."

The baby Joseph was holding began cooing and held her arms out to Amy.

"You are so precious," Amy said, taking the baby back into her arms.

"I was only nine years old when I died, so I know nothing of romantic love, but it's something I've always wanted to experience," Joseph told Amy.

"I've never known what it's like to be loved by a man who loved only me, above all others," Amy replied sadly.

"I feel so sad for you," Joseph told her. "You seem to be such a lovely person. Surely you deserve to be loved in return."

Just then, the group was joined by Edward and Marie Zephyrine. They were holding hands and looked very happy.

"Edward has been showing me the loveliest gardens," Marie said. "The flowers are so much more beautiful than any I ever saw on earth."

"The ones I showed you are only a tiny percentage of the many that grow here," Edward said. "It would probably take about an eternity to show them all to you."

"It's a good thing we have that long, then." Marie laughed, and Edward hugged her and kissed her cheek.

The group returned to the gardens, and as it was still several hours before Anne was due back, Louis went with them. Later, he met up with Anne at the appointed place.

"Did you and Elizabeth enjoy yourselves?" he asked her.

"Yes, we had a very nice time together," she replied. "How was your day?"

"It was perfectly lovely. Joseph and I met Amy Dudley, and he seemed to get on with her very well."

Anne looked sad. "She was a tragic girl indeed," she said softly. "I never really approved of Elizabeth's relationship with her husband Robert, although of course I have no right to say anything about it as Henry was still married to Katherine when I first became involved with him."

"Perhaps she will find happiness at last with my brother, as I have found with you," Louis said. "Edward and Marie Zephyrine still seem to be getting along well also."

"I'm glad to hear it," Anne said. "Those who arrived here as innocents deserve the same opportunity for happiness that the rest of us have enjoyed."

"They do indeed," said Louis.


	9. The Giver Of Life

_A/N: To those of you who are against capital punishment, please don't be offended as I am trying to portray the POV of several hundred years ago rather than the POV of the present._

"My sister was right," Louis said. "The beauty of these flowers far surpasses that of any I've ever seen before." He and Anne had decided to join the others in touring the garden.

"As many times as I've seen them, I never tire of looking at them again," Anne replied.

"Why, hello there!" she suddenly exclaimed to a man who was evidently a caretaker in the garden.

"Anne! How lovely to see you again!" The man smiled and embraced her.

"I'd like for you to meet Louis. He's a very good friend of mine who arrived a few months ago," Anne said. "Louis, this is my friend Jean Rombaud."

"Always nice to meet a fellow countryman." Louis shook hands with Jean. "With the revolution going on on earth, there are ever so many of us arriving here on a daily basis."

"So I've noticed. It's sad."

"Jean was the executioner who beheaded me," Anne told Louis.

Louis just stared at Jean, too shocked to say anything.

"I never held it against him for a single moment," Anne continued. "He was simply a professional doing his job, and I understood that. I knew that he bore me no personal malice. In fact, the last thing he did before beheading me was to tuck a stray hair under my cap. That small act of compassion meant the world to me."

"It was the most difficult execution I ever had to do," Jean added. "I had become accustomed to removing the heads of murderers, rapists, thugs, uncivilized brutes, creatures who had been a bane to society. As soon as I saw Anne, I knew that she was different. Rather than the revulsion I normally felt for the basest of criminals, the only thing I felt for Anne was an overwhelming urge to protect her. It broke my heart to do what I had to do. After it was over, I cried as I washed the blood from the sword in the river, my tears mingling with its water. To know that I had been required to take a life which I had wanted instead to protect was a burden I had to carry with me for the rest of my life."

"When I first arrived here, I both looked forward to meeting Anne and dreaded it at the same time. I longed to get to know her, yet I feared that seeing her again would be terribly awkward for both of us. As it turned out, I needn't have worried at all, as Anne put me at ease right away. She's the most gracious person I've ever known, and one of my dearest friends."

"Jean planted every flower in this garden, and many others as well," Anne told Louis. "Much of heaven's beauty is owed to his efforts."

"On earth, I was a taker of life. In the hereafter, I have become a giver of life instead. I find that it suits me much better," Jean said with a smile. His hand slipped into Anne's, Anne took Louis' hand with the other, and they strolled around the gardens like that for awhile.

Eventually they came to a river, where they saw a boat with a group of young people aboard, laughing and chatting merrily. They saw Anne and waved to her, and she smiled and waved back.

"Would you like to join us?" asked one of the girls.

"Fancy a boat ride?" Anne asked Louis.

"Why not? It's a lovely day for it," Louis replied.

"These are the children of Katherine of Aragon," Anne told Louis. "You've already met Mary, the only one who survived infancy. The others are Katherine, Henry, Arthur, another Henry, and Margaret."

"I'm very pleased to meet you all," said Louis.

"Except for Mary, we have never known any other home but this one," said Katherine, the oldest. "And knowing Mary's story, and that of our mother, we consider ourselves truly fortunate in that respect."

"Life on earth is indeed full of sorrows and hardship," Louis agreed. "But it has many joys and wonders as well."

"I suppose we shall never know that for ourselves," said the older Henry. He sounded a bit sad.

"Perhaps it doesn't really matter," suggested Arthur. "After all, having never known them, it would be impossible for us to miss them."

"Although it seems difficult for us who have experienced them not to pity those of you who haven't," interjected Anne.

"In that case, perhaps it's sadder for you than for us, then," said the younger Henry.

"Perhaps we should stop all these philosophical discussions and just enjoy this beautiful day," suggested Margaret.

"That sounds like an excellent idea to me," said Mary, and everyone laughed.

"This reminds me so much of boat rides along the Thames in London," Anne said with a sigh of contentment. Louis put his arm around her, and she leaned back against him and enjoyed the view.


	10. Elizabeth's Arrival

"My younger sister Elizabeth arrives today," Louis told Anne. She joined him in observing what was becoming a familiar sight on earth. A cart holding twenty-four men and women made its way toward the guillotine. One of the women was reciting something in Latin.

"That's Elizabeth," said Louis. "She's reciting the _De Profundis, _which in English is Psalm 130. It's a cry to God for mercy and a statement of trust in His provision."

Anne and Louis watched as two of the women kissed Elizabeth's cheek while the cart's occupants were led to the guillotine and executed one by one. Elizabeth was forced to watch the other twenty-three executions before being put to death herself.

"My dear sister!" Louis cried as she appeared before him. He embraced her tightly.

"It's all over now, my sweet sister. It's all over, and everything's all right now," Louis said soothingly. He knew how traumatized Elizabeth had been by being forced to watch the other twenty-three deaths before her own.

"I'll never forget how kind you were to my daughter," Louis told Elizabeth after she had regained her composure.

"I loved her as if she had been my own, and still do," Elizabeth replied, turning to hug Marie Zephyrine, Joseph, and the other family members who had come to witness her arrival.

"Elizabeth was like a second mother to Marie-Therese after Marie Antoinette's death," Louis told Anne. "She never married because she didn't want to leave France."

"She must be a wonderful woman," Anne said. "I can't wait to get to know her."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until the rest of the family is finished with her," Louis laughed.

"Your family is so close and loving, Louis," Anne replied. "I think it's such a shame that not all families are like that."

"I was definitely blessed in that respect," Louis agreed. "Wasn't your own family very close and loving as well, Anne?"

"I was always very close to my mother and to George and Mary." Anne looked sad. "When I was younger, I thought that my father truly loved me as well, but as it turned out, he was more concerned about his own ambitions than he was about his children's welfare." Louis heard the bitterness in her voice and felt very sad for her. "Even when George and I were put to death, his main concern was whether or not he would be allowed to keep his dukedom. He died a sad and lonely man, Louis, and even today, although surrounded by heaven's beauty, he fails to enjoy it as he should, as for him there is no pleasure in having good things unless he has more of them than others do."

"Oh, sweetheart, I am so sorry." Louis gave Anne a comforting hug.

"It's all right," Anne said with a smile. "There's more than enough love in heaven to make up for any lack thereof experienced while on earth."

"I do have to say, Anne, that you are one of the most merciful and forgiving people I have ever known. For that, you have my utmost respect as well as my heart."

"I could say the same of you, Louis," Anne replied softly.

"Look, here's Elizabeth now," Louis said as his sister approached them.

"Elizabeth, I'd like for you to meet a very dear friend of mine, Anne Boleyn," Louis said to Elizabeth.

"It's lovely to meet you, Anne," Elizabeth said as she embraced Anne warmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Elizabeth," Anne replied. "Your brother is definitely the most wonderful man I've ever known. He was worth the two-hundred-year wait."

Louis blushed self-consciously and laughed.

"Also one of the easiest to make react in that way," Elizabeth teased.

"Which I find absolutely endearing," Anne added.

"Stop it, you too." Louis blushed even more deeply, and both women laughed and hugged him affectionately.

"You're definitely still the same old Louis," Elizabeth remarked. "And I notice that Joseph and Marie Zephyrine now have loving partners as well. I'm so happy for all three of you."

"Now all that's left is to find someone for you," Louis told her.

"For me?" Elizabeth laughed in disbelief.

"Why not? You no longer have to worry about marrying a foreign prince and having to leave France. Here you can be with whomever you want and live wherever you want, no matter who you are."

"That's true, isn't it," Elizabeth remarked, as if only now realizing that fact.

For the first time since meeting Louis, Anne felt a twinge of jealousy, which she guiltily tried to suppress. _I wonder if this was how Jane felt about my relationship with George, _she thought. Her sister-in-law, the former Jane Parker, had been jealous of Anne's relationship with her brother and had played a part in both of their deaths. She told herself that there was absolutely no reason at all to feel that way in heaven, but the feeling still persisted. She found herself hoping that Elizabeth _would _find a partner of her own soon.


	11. Forgiveness

For the first time in a very long time, Anne felt slightly depressed. Louis was busy showing his sister Elizabeth around heaven. Anne had joined them for awhile but soon began to feel like a third wheel. Louis and Elizabeth chatted animatedly about events that had happened on earth while they had still been alive, events Anne herself knew little or nothing about. After awhile she had politely excused herself and began to travel in the opposite direction.

As Anne passed the lake, she saw its lone occupant just sitting on the bank, throwing pebbles into the water. She had been sitting there, all alone, throwing pebbles into the water, for most of over two hundred years. In life she had lost her sanity near the end, but that hadn't stopped her execution. Henry had made sure of that. She had arrived at the same time as Anne's cousin, Katherine Howard. Her sanity had been restored, or at least, Anne assumed that it had been. With the exception of Katherine Howard, with whom she had shared a close friendship while on earth, she related to no one at all. Anne had thought of approaching her many times but had always felt hesitant to do so. Today she found herself walking slowly toward the lake. The other woman glanced up as she approached.

"Hello, Jane." Anne smiled warmly. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Anne!" Jane Boleyn jumped up, shocked. "But I thought you hated me!"

"Of course not. There's no hatred up here."

"But I was the cause of your death, and of your brother's."

"You weren't the only cause, or even the main cause." Anne began to walk along the shore, and Jane fell into step beside her. "Besides, it doesn't really matter any more, does it? We both have this beautiful place to enjoy for all of eternity, yet so many times I have seen you sitting beside this very lake with such a sad look on your face."

"I don't deserve it," Jane said quietly. "I don't deserve the beauty of heaven after what I've done."

"Is that the reason you sit alone beside this lake so much of the time and associate with no one but Katherine Howard?"

Jane nodded and began to sob quietly.

"Oh, Jane." Anne embraced her tenderly. "We have all made mistakes. None of us are perfect. We learn from our mistakes and move on. There's no need to continue to punish yourself for something that happened over two hundred years ago."

"Anne, do you think...do you think that he could ever forgive me?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Will you take me to him?"

"Of course I will." Anne knew where George could be found, and together, she and Jane walked there. George happened to be talking with Mark Smeaton when Anne and Jane arrived.

George looked up, and his eyes met Jane's. "Please excuse us, Mark," he said.

"Certainly." Mark left to join another group of his friends.

"Jane," George said softly, walking toward the woman who had been his wife while on earth.

"Oh, George, I'm so sorry!" Jane cried.

George smiled. "I haven't seen you in ever so long, Jane. Isn't heaven beautiful?"

"I...I wouldn't know. You see, I haven't seen very much of it at all." Jane's voice was very quiet, and she stared at her feet as she spoke.

"Come on. I'll show you some of my favorite spots." George took Jane's hand. She looked up at him and smiled for the first time in years. Together they walked toward the gardens. Anne smiled as she watched them go. She felt so happy that she had forgotten all about the situation with Louis and Elizabeth.

Realizing that George and Jane needed some time alone, Anne decided to visit the stables when she heard someone call her name. Surprised, she turned to see Elizabeth.

"I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kindness you have shown my brother," Elizabeth told her. "He had never really known the love of a woman until you came into his life. Louis was always so painfully shy, and Marie Antoinette tried, I know she did, but she could never really understand him. They were just too different. Eventually she lost patience and had an affair with Axel Von Fersen. That hurt him very badly, although of course he tried not to show it. I think it shattered what little confidence he had begun to develop."

"Louis told me about your own marriage and the horrid way you died. He cried as he was telling me about it."

"It was no more horrid than the way you and Louis died."

"Neither of us had a spouse who desired our death, celebrated it afterwards, and was remarried only two weeks later."

Anne had to swallow a lump in her throat. Even after more than two hundred years, reminders were still painful.

"I can't believe the change in Louis since I last saw him on earth. He used to be so introverted and withdrawn. Now he seems to have a true zest for life. I commented on that, and he told me that it was all because of you. He said that you're the best thing that's ever happened to him. I love my brother so very much, and I will be eternally grateful to you for everything you've done for him."

"You're very kind." Suddenly an idea came to Anne. "I was just about to go horseback riding. Would you like to come along?"

"I'd love to!" Elizabeth cried. "That was one of my favorite things to do while I was on earth."

"Come on, then. I'll show you where the stables are." As they walked along, it occurred to Anne that the day hadn't turned out badly at all.


	12. George And Jane

_A/N: I'm very sorry but neither Anne nor Louis appears in this chapter...I hope that you all like it anyway. :)_

"So, what have you been doing for the past couple hundred years?" George asked Jane.

"Not very much. Remembering, mostly. Trying to understand how I could have been such a horrible wife."

"I wasn't a perfect husband, either," George said gently.

"That wasn't reason enough for what I did. Nothing is reason enough for what I did."

"So you've spent the entire time you've been here doing nothing but regretting your actions while on earth? Poor Jane!" George said softly.

"I feel that I don't deserve to be happy after what I did."

"It's been over two hundred years, Jane. Don't you think you've punished yourself enough?"

She looked at him with surprise. "Why, I don't know. It never occurred to me to ask myself that question. What do you think about it?"

"That's not for me to judge, Jane. That's for One higher than me to judge. All I can say is that I think you've already punished yourself far more harshly than He ever would have."

"Perhaps you're right." She looked thoughtful. "But how can you even bear to look at me, George?"

"Maybe because I haven't let it consume me on the inside ever since it happened, as you have. Maybe because I let it go a long time ago, since I realized that everything happens for a reason and if you just leave things alone then it will all be the way it was meant to be in the end."

"I never thought of it that way before." Jane was impressed. "How'd you ever get to be so smart, George?"

George laughed. "I'm not that particularly smart," he said modestly. "I just don't see any point in being miserable when there are other options."

They had reached the gardens, and Jane marvelled at the beauty of the flowers. "Why, I never even realized that they were here!" she exclaimed.

George grinned. "I'll bet you probably never even thought of looking for them, did you?"

"Well...no..."

"If there's one thing I regret more than anything else about my life on earth, Jane, it's that I never noticed nor appreciated how beautiful my wife was."

"Why, George!" Jane giggled and blushed deeply.

"I mean it, Jane." He hesitated but a moment, then kissed her lips. "I think we should give it another chance," he said. "Things went all awry the first time because neither one of us really wanted it. We were both forced into it by our parents. I was angry, and I took my anger out on you. It was only natural that you would retaliate. But heaven is all about second chances, and I think we deserve a second chance. Don't you?"

"Oh, George..." Too overwhelmed to say anything more, Jane was sobbing. George took her hand, and instantly they were both transported into the most luxurious bedchambers in sixteenth century Whitehall Palace.

Jane gasped with amazement. "How'd you do that?"

"It was really quite easy. I'll show you sometime." George winked at her. "Right now, I want to make love to you as I should have on our wedding night."

She joined him on the bed, where he began to kiss her, softly at first, then more urgently. She soon began to feel herself go weak with desire. She clung to him, returning his kisses with equal passion, her hands wandering over his body. They undressed one another slowly and gently, letting each article of clothing drift to the floor beside the bed.

She took him first into her hands, then into her mouth.

"Oh, Jane," he moaned softly. She had never done that when they had been alive on earth. She licked him up and down, twirled her tongue around and around him, then took him all the way into her mouth and began to move up and down.

"Oh yes...oh yes..." he moaned over and over again. When he began to thrust wildly, she knew that he was close and lay back on the bed while he moved between her legs and began to return the favor.

He brought her almost to the edge, then changed positions and entered her. She was over the edge almost immediately, and he followed a few seconds later. Then he collapsed beside her, and they both lay panting for a long while. George was the first to speak.

"I hope that made up for what happened on our wedding night," he said, a bit sheepishly.

Jane was crying so hard that she was unable to answer him.

"Jane? Oh, Jane..." He pulled her to himself, letting her cry on his shoulder. "There, there. It's all right. Everything's all right." He patted her back, and within a few minutes, her sobs abated.

"George?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Hmm?"

"I want you to stay with me, George. Always."

"Of course I will, you silly girl. I do love you, you know."

"I...I love you too, George." She couldn't see his face, but she heard the smile in his voice as he gently stroked her hair.


	13. Disillusioned

Anne was tired but happy as she returned from riding horses with Elizabeth. She had made a new friend and also now felt more secure in Louis' love for her.

In the distance she saw Louis approaching. His face lit up and he grinned as he saw her and rushed to embrace her.

"I've missed you," he said.

"I've missed you too," she told him. "I've been riding horses with Elizabeth. She's such a sweet person. I'm so glad I got to know her."

Louis smiled. "I knew you two would get along really well." He handed Anne a small object. "See if you can open this."

Anne could tell that it was a type of lock, but she had never before seen one exactly like it. She had no idea how to open it, but she gave it a token try before handing it back to Louis, who grinned and opened it with ease.

"It's a combination lock," he explained. "It's easy to open if you know the combination. Here, I'll show you."

Anne smiled. "That's really something."

"I know these are rather obsolete for us, as up here no one ever steals from another or invades another's privacy, but they were an all-consuming passion of mine while on earth."

"Speaking of locks and keys..." Anne grinned cheekily as her hand wandered toward the front of Louis' pants. He laughed, startled but delighted.

* * *

><p>Jane awakened, startled to find that she was in bed with someone, even more startled to find that that someone was George. Then the memory of what had happened right before she had fallen asleep returned and her heart was filled with joy.<p>

"Hello there." George's fingers softly traced the outline of her face and gently pinched her nose. "Sleep well?"

"Better than ever before. You?"

He chuckled. "Much better with you here beside me."

"I'll always be beside you, George, for as long as you want me to be."

He hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. She stretched lazily, luxuriating in his touch. "So, what do you want to do now?" he asked.

"I'd like to visit Katherine Howard. She'll be thrilled to find out we're back together. You know her, right?"

"Of course I do! She's my cousin, remember?"

"Oh yes, that's right. On your mother's side. We'll have to wait until she gets off work. She works with Marie Antoinette in the bakery, you know."

"Great. I could go for some donuts, anyway. You know how sex always makes me hungry." He winked at her and grinned.

"Actually I had forgotten that." She giggled, and he swatted her behind playfully.

At the bakery, Katherine was taking a break and chatting with a woman who was sitting with a man and two other women. She looked up when George and Jane entered.

"I have to get back to work now," she told them. "But it's wonderful to see you two together again."

"It's wonderful to _be _together again," replied Jane.

"My name is Mabel, and this is my husband Andrew and my daughters Emily and Sarah," said one of the three women.

"Nice to meet you," said Jane. "I'm Jane, and this is my husband George, Katherine's cousin."

"I actually didn't meet Katherine until we were already in heaven," said Mabel. "She was looking for Thomas Culpepper, the man who raped me and murdered my husband."

Jane gasped, shocked.

"That's right," Mabel continued. "Andrew and I were alone. My first daughter, Emily, was already in heaven. Andrew worked as a park ranger. One day Thomas came along with his friends and raped me and killed Andrew. My second daughter Sarah was conceived as a result of that rape. I told Katherine all of this and she refused to believe me at first. It took a very long time for her to accept that Thomas really had committed those acts. When she finally realized that she had to, she was devastated, as she had truly loved Thomas in life."

"I know she did," said Jane. "That must have been so awful for her."

"Fortunately, she put it behind her and moved on a long time ago," said Mabel.

"She's never said a word about it to me," Jane said. "I don't even know what became of Thomas after he died."

"He works for Henry still, just as he did in life," Mabel told her. "He's responsible for cleaning Henry's shovels and wheelbarrows as well as washing Henry's clothes and cleaning his shoes. He also has to clean the tub after Henry takes a bath at night."

"Have you ever met your father?" Jane asked Sarah.

"No, nor have I ever had the desire to meet him," Sarah replied. "In heaven I have come to love my sister Emily's father Andrew as a father."

"And you have come to love the daughter of the man who murdered you as your own?" Jane asked Andrew.

"She's a lovely girl," Andrew replied. "And she's also the daughter of the woman I love."

"Wasn't it painful for you to raise a child who was the result of a rape?" Jane asked Mabel.

"It was difficult to have to deal with that in addition to the fact that my husband had just been murdered," Mabel admitted. "I just kept reminding myself that it was a part of me as well, and after Sarah was born, she turned out to be truly a blessing as she did much to alleviate my loneliness."

Much later, George and Jane were watching the sun set over the lake Jane had formerly frequented so often, holding hands and enjoying the calm serenity together.

"If we had had children, I wonder what they would have looked like," Jane said suddenly.

"Have you ever visited heaven's nursery?" George asked her.

"I never even realized that there was such a place."

"Let me take you there."

Moments later, George and Jane were standing beside the crib of a sleeping baby. She began to squirm restlessly, then opened her eyes and started to cry. Jane immediately picked her up and cuddled her, and she was soon cooing and gurgling happily.

George smiled. "You would have made a wonderful mother," he told Jane.

"Perhaps." Jane sighed, a little sadly.

"Who knows but what it may still happen yet," George said with a grin.


	14. The Chapel

"I've been concerned about Elizabeth lately," Louis told Anne. "She seems so lonely."

"I've tried my best to be a good friend to her," Anne replied.

"I know you have, _cherie_. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I just feel that perhaps she needs to meet some more people here."

"I know just the person to introduce her to!" Anne exclaimed. "Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife. I think that they would have an incredible amount in common."

"I've met her a few times but don't know her that well," Louis said.

"She's such a sweet person. You'd love her," Anne told him. She knew where Anne of Cleves was most likely to be found. Deep inside a forest was a lovely chapel with stained glass windows. Anne of Cleves loved to go there to read or meditate. Anne Boleyn found Elizabeth and took her there.

When they reached the chapel, they found not only Anne of Cleves but also a tall, serious-looking man with curly black hair. When he saw Anne Boleyn, a look of panic crossed his face and he rose to leave.

"Wait, Thomas," Anne called to him. "Just because I'm here doesn't mean that you have to leave. You've been running away from me for over two hundred years. Why? What do you think I'm going to do to you?"

"Why, I have no idea." Thomas looked at her blankly. "I had another one of those dreams recently. You were holding your head under one arm and you were chasing me. I was so afraid. The worst part was the screams. Mark was being tortured on the rack. He was crying and saying over and over again that he was innocent. He _was _innocent, Anne. I knew it the whole time. As he and the others were being led to the block, I knew that five completely innocent men were about to be beheaded, and that their blood would be on my hands." Thomas' face was twisted in agony.

"Dear Thomas," Anne Boleyn said softly, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You weren't the only one to blame, nor even the main one. Henry used and manipulated you just as he did everyone within his sphere of influence."

"I was the one who set the entire thing in motion, Anne. The intimidations, the coercion, the torture. And do you know what? I enjoyed it, at least at first. It gave me a sense of power, of domination. One that an humble secretary such as myself had never experienced before." There were tears in Thomas Cromwell's eyes, and in spite of everything, they tugged at Anne's heart.

"Tell me, Thomas," she began. "Would you have started the investigations against me and the others if it hadn't been for Henry pressuring you?"

"I...I loved him, Anne. I never had anything personal against you or your brother or Mark or anyone. But I wanted to impress Henry. To make him proud of me. To make him love me back."

"He _did _love you back, Thomas. Of all the people he ever had executed, he regretted yours the most bitterly."

Thomas was surprised. "How'd you know that?"

"Word gets around up here." Anne smiled. "You were in almost every way a good man, Thomas. I know that you were a devoted husband and father. Think of the love you had for your Elizabeth. How heartbroken you were when she died, when your two daughters died. Did Henry ever have that kind of love for any of his wives or daughters, even Jane? He didn't really love _her. _He loved _what she did. _If Edward had been a girl instead of a boy, do you think that he would have truly mourned her as he did?"

Thomas stared at the floor in silence.

"He was an evil man, Thomas, and his evil rubbed off on everyone around him to a certain extent."

"I never thought of it that way before," Thomas said.

"I remember the night he slept in my bed with me after our marriage had been annuled," Anne of Cleves put in. "He was married to Katherine Howard at the time. We didn't have sex but just cuddled. That night I saw a softer, more vulnerable side to him than I had ever seen before. Things weren't going well with Katherine and he was seeking comfort. After Katherine was executed for adultery, I hoped that he would take me back and give our marriage another chance. I was very disappointed when he married Katherine Parr instead."

"I would have loved to have gotten married," said Elizabeth. "But in my case it would have meant leaving my beloved France, and that was something I simply couldn't do."

"I left my beloved Germany to marry Henry," Anne of Cleves told her. "And even though the marriage to Henry didn't work out, I came to love England and never had any desire to return to Germany."

Anne of Cleves and Elizabeth were soon deeply engrossed in conversation with one another.

"Well, I need to get back to my Elizabeth. She'll be wondering where I've been for so long," Thomas said, a bit apologetically.

"Louis will be wondering about me as well," Anne said.

"Louis?"

"Louis the XVI of France," Anne explained.

"I'd love to meet him sometime," Thomas said.

"I'd be happy to introduce him to you," Anne offered. "And Thomas, you don't have to run away from me anymore. I promise, I'm not going to do anything to you."

"Deep down inside, I know that," he said. "It's just that the dreams seem so real. Every time I have one I come here to the chapel in search of peace. Sometimes Anne of Cleves is here and she talks to me and that helps. But I think I benefited a lot more from talking with you today, Anne."

Anne smiled. "I'm so happy I was able to help you feel better," she said.

"So, how well did Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves get along?" Louis asked her later.

"Very well. I think they're going to be great friends. I talked with Thomas Cromwell also. He wants to meet you."

Louis' smile disappeared. "Henry's secretary."

"Yes, but it's all right now."

_"Ma pauvre petite." _Louis put his arms around Anne and held her close.

"It really _is _all right, Louis. But I do so love it when you hold me like this."


	15. Mary Queen Of Scots

One day, Louis' brother Joseph and the former Amy Dudley came to ask whether Louis and Anne wanted to go horseback riding with them. They were accompanied by another couple. The woman was a petite blue-eyed blonde, and the man had brown hair and eyes.

"I was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland," the woman told Louis. "And this is my true husband, King Francis II of France. I loved him dearly, but we were wed for only two short years before he was taken from me. If only he had lived, I could have enjoyed life as a free woman in France, but his death changed my life forever."

"After the loss of Francis, I returned to Scotland to take my place as its rightful sovereign. I requested safe passage from Elizabeth, but she refused. I truly wanted to befriend her, but she saw me as a threat."

"That happened right around the time of my own death," Amy added. "My husband Robert was, of course, thrilled that he was finally free to marry Elizabeth. Instead, Elizabeth tried to marry him off to Mary."

"I refused him," Mary said. "I knew that he would never love any woman but Elizabeth, and I didn't want to have to live in another woman's shadow, as poor Amy had done for all those years."

"I married my cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, instead. At first I was infatuated with him, but it didn't last long at all. He was tyrannical, demanding, and paranoid, but he did give me my only child, James VI."

"After Henry's death, I married James Hepburn, the fourth Earl of Botswell. I was overthrown and forced to leave Scotland and my one-year-old son. I never saw little James again."

"Elizabeth immediately had me imprisoned. After eighteen years I was tried and found guilty of treason and beheaded. It took three blows to remove my head. It was a really horrid experience."

Louis rubbed his own neck, remembering.

"Upon death, I was reunited with my beloved Francis. Since then, we've had the chance to live the life that was denied us on earth by his early death."

Louis noticed that Anne was completely silent but had a look of disapproval on her face for the entire time Mary was speaking. After they and the other couples parted ways, he looked at her questioningly.

"Mary only told you part of the story," Anne said. "What she didn't tell you was that she had claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics. My daughter only did what was necessary to keep her rightful position, and it was with great reluctance that she permitted Mary's execution."

"There seems to have been so much bloodshed in the name of religion during both your and your daughter's times on earth," Louis mused. "Yet representatives of each religion share equally in the joys of heaven."

"While on earth, we have only partial knowledge," Anne replied. "We are left to draw our own conclusions about the rest. As different people come to different conclusions, it's easy and very tempting to believe that one's own theories are right and all others wrong. No one wants to live with the uncertainty of having to admit that some things simply can't be known for sure during our lives on earth. We want to believe that we know for certain, although of course we can't. And for us to be right, naturally people who believe differently have to be wrong."

"What a shame that one can't have complete knowledge while on earth," Louis said. "Think of all the heartbreak and sorrow that could be avoided if that were the case."

"I think it's one of the tasks we're meant to accomplish while on earth, to realize that no one can know for sure so nobody can ever be proven to be 'right' or 'wrong.' Some of us accomplish it, but most of us don't until we die and find out for ourselves," Anne replied.

"How'd you ever get to be so wise?" Louis asked admiringly.

"I've had a couple of hundred years to think about it," Anne said with a smile.


	16. Charles

Louis and his two children, Joseph and Sophie, watched earth with the most solemn of expressions. Joseph was thirteen now, and Sophie was almost nine. Marie Antoinette was there as well, looking very troubled and a bit annoyed. She gave Anne a dirty look as she approached and then resumed watching earth with her former husband and children.

"My son Charles crosses over today," Louis explained.

Anne looked down at a frail ten-year-old boy lying in a bed with dirty sheets. She remembered the last time she had seen him, alone and frightened in a cell with two cruel adults.

"Soon you shall be free, little one," she whispered.

The fragile body sighed deeply, shuddered, and then lay very still. A moment later, the boy stood with his parents and siblings, healthy and whole.

"Papa?" His eyes became round as saucers as he recognized Louis.

"Charles!" Louis embraced him joyfully.

Marie Antoinette stepped toward them. "He's my son, too," she said coolly.

The smile vanished from Charles' face as he turned to look at her. "Mama." His voice was barely a whisper.

"Why did you sign it, Charles?" she asked.

"I was afraid of what they might do to me if I didn't," he told her.

"You're aware of what happened to me as a result of those charges," Marie said. Charles hung his head.

"He was eight years old, Marie," Louis said mildly. "What could he have done that would have made a difference one way or another? They hated us and wanted us dead anyway. Surely you don't blame your own son for your execution."

"Please don't be angry at me, Mama," Charles said in a choked voice as tears streamed down his face. Marie looked unsure of what to do for just a minute. Then she silently went to her son and gently hugged him. Charles clung to her as he had to Louis. Louis and Anne looked at one another and smiled.

"Hey Charles, let me show you the park," Joseph said, reaching for his brother's hand. Charles grinned and took his brother's hand. Then his eyes fell on Anne standing beside his father and he looked confused.

"Charles, this is Anne," Louis said. "She's a very nice lady and a good friend of mine."

"Hello, sweetheart," Anne said to Charles. He grinned shyly at her.

"Why don't we all walk to the park together," Louis suggested. He and Anne walked hand in hand behind the three children, who ran on ahead excitedly.

"I"m so relieved that it went as easily as it did," Louis told Anne. "I was afraid that he might be in great pain at the end, and I couldn't have stood that."

"Looking at him now, it's hard to believe he's still the same boy he was before," Anne said. Louis saw that there were tears in her eyes and suddenly felt a great tenderness toward her.

"I'm sure that he will come to love you as Joseph and Sophie have," he said.

"They're delightful children," said Anne. She was curious about what signature Marie Antoinette had referred to but knew that it was none of her business.

"Marie was accused of molesting Charles," Louis told her in response to her unasked question.

"Was it true?"

"No."

"Very similar to the accusations regarding my brother George and myself," Anne reflected.

"Very similar, yes," Louis agreed. "But at least George was an adult at the time."

"Poor Charles," Anne whispered.

Louis smiled. "He'll be fine. He's back with his brother and sister now, plus he has you and me now."

Anne felt proud that Louis had included her in the list of people Charles could depend on.

They watched the kids play in the park until it was dark. Although there was no true night in heaven, some periods of time were brighter than others, and people tended to be more active during those times. The periods went in cycles similar to earth days and nights.

"Come on, I'll show you where you live now," Joseph said to Charles. He and Sophie lived in the part of heaven reserved for preteens and young teenagers. It consisted of a number of condominium-type buildings housing luxurious suites resembling penthouses. Those who died in childhood spent their transitional years between childhood and adolescence there.

"It was nice to meet you, Anne," Charles told her as they were leaving the park.

"It was nice to meet you as well," Anne told him. "I know you'll be very happy here."

Louis grinned cheekily at Anne. "Would the Palace in Versailles be all right this time?" Anne had noticed that he seemed to become especially amorous after an encounter with Marie Antoinette.

"The Palace in Versailles is perfect! I feel very sentimental about it as our first time was there."

"So do I."

Once in the bedroom, Louis began to kiss Anne fervently, which both surprised and greatly aroused her, as it was unusual for him to take such an active role in lovemaking. Soon they had removed all their clothing and were lying in bed. Louis slowly placed kisses all the way down Anne's body until he reached the area just below her navel, while Anne lay perfectly still, fascinated, wondering whether he was actually going to do what it seemed he might. The thought of that excited and tantalized her.

At last he parted her legs and began to kiss and lick her private parts. A shiver rippled through Anne's body and she began to moan. Louis' tongue touched her most sensitive spot and she went over the edge almost immediately, moaning and writhing with pleasure.

"Did I do that right?" Louis asked a bit hesitantly.

She laughed. "I can't believe you have to ask."

He grinned with relief and blushed a little. "It's just that you've given me pleasure with your mouth so many times I thought it would be nice to return the favor."

Anne ran her fingers through his soft, luxurious dark brown hair. "Dear, sweet Louis," she said. "I love you so very much!"

_"Ma belle amour," _said Louis. He entered her and they began to make love.


	17. Battle Of The Sexes

Louis and Anne were strolling together in the gardens when a man with a wheelbarrow full of fertilizer almost crashed right into them.

"Sorry!" he said with an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, hi Anne."

"Good to see you again, Charles," Anne replied with a smile. "This is Louis XVI of France."

"Nice to meet you, Louis," Charles said amiably. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a lot of work to do."

"That was Charles Brandon, Henry's best friend and right-hand man," Anne explained after Charles and his wheelbarrow had moved on. "He was also Henry's brother-in-law at one time, as he was once married to Henry's younger sister Mary, who hated me and influenced Charles to hate me, too."

"As he and Henry were virtually inseparable while on earth, so they continue to be in heaven. Charles works with Henry in the stables. Henry shovels the manure, and Charles brings it in his wheelbarrow to fertilize the gardens."

"Sounds like true friendship," Louis commented.

"Of the most enduring kind," Anne agreed. "While on earth, Charles had a real eye for the ladies. He was quite the charmer and could have any woman he desired. The word 'monogamy' was completely foreign to him. Since arriving in heaven he's had a rather embarrassing problem. He's totally and permanently impotent with any woman he finds attractive. As you can imagine, his present sex life isn't nearly as colorful as it was on earth."

"Oh, the poor man!" Louis said sympathetically.

"I don't feel sorry for him one bit," Anne retorted.

"You wouldn't understand. You're not a man."

"And exactly what was that comment supposed to mean?"

Louis blushed and chuckled. "Never mind."

"Has it ever happened to you?" Anne's voice was light and teasing.

"Fortunately, no." Louis grinned. "Not that it's had many opportunities to have done so. So the only women poor Charles Brandon can have sex with is women he's not even attracted to anyway?"

"That's right."

"But where's the logic in that?"

"That way, he's forced to get to know them as people first, since he doesn't view them as sex objects or conquests."

Louis looked thoughtful. "That does seem to make sense, in a weird sort of way." His face lit up as a river came into view. "Would you like to go for a swim?"

"Of course!"

Immediately they stripped and jumped into the water. Swimsuits weren't a requirement in heaven.

"Race you to the other side!" Louis called joyfully.

"You're on!" Anne called back. Louis beat her across by a fraction of a second.

"It wasn't a fair race. You have longer legs and arms than me," Anne pretended to pout.

Louis laughed. "What can I say?"

"Give me a five second head start next time," Anne said.

"All right, but I'll still beat you," Louis predicted. The next race was an exact tie.

"There, you see?" Anne said triumphantly.

_"Touche," _said Louis.

They swam a few more laps and then lay on the bank in the sun catching their breaths. After awhile they put their clothes back on and went for lemonade.

"My cousin, Sir Francis Bryan," Anne said as she introduced the dark-haired, bearded man who ran the lemonade stand to Louis.

"He has the exact same predicament that Charles Brandon has," she told Louis as soon as they were out of Francis' earshot. "And if you say 'poor man' to me again you're going to get a lemonade bath."


	18. Louis' Penance

One evening after a busy afternoon of horseback riding, Louis lay on his belly in the grass while Anne gave him a back rub.

"You seem more quiet than usual," Anne commented. "Is there something on your mind?"

"I've been wondering whether or not it's actually possible to improve things on earth from here, or if it all must be left to those still living on earth themselves?"

"What on earth would you like to improve?" Anne asked.

"The plight of the French peasants has been much on my mind lately. I know that when I had the chance I didn't do nearly as much for them as I could have, as I should have. No wonder they hated me. Perhaps I deserved what happened to me, after all."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself, darling," Anne told him. "Were you any more selfish or heartless than any of the French monarchs who preceded you? You were simply born in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all."

"Perhaps. Yet I wonder whether I should or indeed even could do something to compensate for my former callousness and lack of concern."

"Louis, I could never imagine you as being callous or unconcerned, no matter how hard I try," Anne said. "You had issues with Marie at the time, didn't you? That type of thing would certainly be a distraction even under the best of circumstances."

"That was no excuse. I shouldn't have let my marital problems interfere with my duty to rule my country and look out for my people's welfare."

"What do you think you should do?" Anne asked.

Louis chuckled. "You know what? I haven't the faintest idea." He grew thoughtful once more. "I lived my entire life on earth in the lap of luxury, Anne. My every need was provided for and I never knew what it was like to have to do without anything. I always had the finest and best of everything, and servants to attend to my every need. Nothing was beyond my reach materially."

"I had quite the same situation, at least during my marriage to Henry," Anne said.

"I wonder whether it would be possible to live, say, a week on earth as a French peasant. That would give me the chance to experience firsthand what their lives are really like, their wants and needs, their hopes and fears and frustrations."

"I'm sure that could be arranged, if it's what you truly want," Anne said. "You're a brave man, Louis, to actually consider doing of your own free will the exact type thing many are forced to do as penance on their arrival here."

Louis laughed. "I hadn't really thought of it that way before, nor considered myself to be amongst that class of individuals."

Anne laughed as well. "Neither would I ever class you with them, dear Louis."

"Yet I feel it's simply something I should do." Louis was thoughtful again.

"In that case I think you should follow your heart, but I shall certainly miss you while you're gone." Anne sighed wistfully.

"You're perfectly welcome to come along too, if you wish. I'd enjoy the company."

* * *

><p>They found themselves standing in a grassy field, the early morning sun already beginning to beat down upon them. Vines bearing grapes surrounded them for as far out as they could see in each direction.<p>

"It's our job to harvest the grapes and prune the vines," Louis told Anne. "We have to finish this entire field before sundown. Then we must tread the grapes to release the wine, and when it ferments in a few days we must bottle it to be sold."

"This entire field? In one day? All by ourselves?" Anne was incredulous.

Louis nodded grimly. "We'd best get started."

Within several hours Anne's muscles ached and her skin felt dry and itchy.

"Can't we just sit down and rest for a few minutes?" she asked.

Louis shook his head. "There's still too much work left to be done," he told her.

After awhile Anne began to grow hungry. "When's the next meal time?" she asked.

Louis laughed. "There's no such thing as meal times for us. We finish the work for the day and then if there's anything to eat we can eat it if we're not too tired to do so."

By the time the sun was setting Anne was so tired she could hardly put one foot ahead of the other, yet she had to join Louis in the giant vats where the grapes were tread.

It was well after dark when they finally made their way to a small shack. Anne was ravenous and looked forward to a feast. On a tiny table in the shack sat two hard crusts of stale bread. That was all.

"But where's our meal?" Anne was puzzled.

"Right on the table, as always," Louis said sadly.

"This is all we get to eat after working so hard all day?"

"Sometimes there isn't even this much. You can have mine," Louis offered gallantly.

"Oh no, no, I wouldn't do that," Anne said quickly. She and Louis hungrily consumed the crusts of bread, washed them down with warm water that had tiny green specks floating in it, and both promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

><p>Six days later Louis and Anne stood in heaven's antechambers once again. Louis' body was wracked with sobs.<p>

"Oh dear God, I'm so sorry...I had no idea..."

"There, there." Anne cradled his head close to her breasts, softly stroking the luxurious dark brown locks and thinking of the opulence of the Palace in Versailles. She wondered how many shoes Marie Antoinette had ever owned. She knew that Louis was thinking of the exact same things. Neither of them would ever be the same again.

"You didn't have to come along," Louis finally said to her. "I almost wish you hadn't."

"But I did have to. Can't you see? I love you, and I couldn't let you go through that all alone."

Her hand gently stroked the side of his face. He took that hand in his own and gently kissed its palm. Then he looked at her with eyes so full of gratitude that she knew the whole adventure had been worth it. More than worth it.

_"Je t'aime, _Anne," Louis whispered. "More than I ever did before. More than I ever thought possible."


	19. Generations

Upon their return to heaven, Louis immediately wanted to make love, and Anne, although very tired from her ordeal, responded to his overtures. After all, they had both been much too tired to even think of physical intimacy during their week as French peasants on earth. Afterwards, Louis held Anne and caressed her while whispering endearments to her, but she fell asleep almost right away.

It was the brightest part of the heavenly day when she awakened. _I must have been completely worn out, _she thought. Seeing that Louis was still asleep, she arose carefully so as not to disturb him.

She saw her son Henry waiting to greet her and gave him a quick hug and kiss.

"I missed you, Mother," he told her.

"I missed you as well," she replied, thinking how amazing it was that he resembled his father so closely, just as Elizabeth always had. "How are George and Eleanor?"

"They're both fine, although they missed you as well, of course." The three children Anne had miscarried on earth had always been very close to each other, and Anne herself had enjoyed watching them grow up in heaven as she had watched from a distance as Elizabeth grew up on earth.

"While you were on earth I wrote a new song for you," Henry continued. He had inherited his father's musical talent. He began to play his lute and sing. While he was performing, Louis' sister Elizabeth arrived and silently listened as well.

"Bravo!" she exclaimed, clapping, when he was finished.

Henry looked pleased. "It's always lovely to have an audience," he said. "My name is Henry," he continued, turning his attention to Elizabeth.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Henry. I'm Elizabeth," she replied. "I came to see how my brother fared while he was on earth."

"I was wondering the same about my mother," Henry said.

Elizabeth looked surprised. "But I thought that Anne Boleyn had no sons."

"I was miscarried, as were a brother and sister of mine," Henry told her.

"It's wonderful to see you again, dear sister. I missed you." Louis went to Elizabeth and hugged and kissed her.

"I missed you as well, Louis." Elizabeth turned to Anne. "Your son has a beautiful singing voice."

"Thank you," Anne and Henry said together. All four of them laughed.

After visiting for awhile, Henry and Elizabeth went for a walk together while Louis and Anne cuddled on the sofa.

"I'm so happy that Elizabeth met Henry, and I really hope that things go well for them," Louis said. "However, it does seem odd, doesn't it, to think of your son and my sister together."

"Why do you say that?"

"Simply that as you and I seem near the same age, to me it follows that your son should seem a generation younger than both of us, and Elizabeth as well."

"And yet, in reality, I am over two hundred years older than you, as are my children." Anne laughed, and Louis, seeing the absurdity of his comment, laughed along with her. "Here in heaven, generations have no meaning," Anne continued. "As we all remain young adults forever, there are no age difference considerations when it comes to romance."

"I'm ever so glad it's that way."

"So am I, darling Louis."


	20. Father Of A Country

Several years passed. All the new relationships blossomed and deepened, including that of Louis and Anne. Louis' children who were in heaven continued to grow and mature. Joseph was now eighteen, Charles was fourteen, and Sophie was thirteen. Louis stayed in close contact with them, and they also remained good friends with Anne. In fact, they saw more of her than they did of their own mother, Marie Antoinette.

Louis also kept close watch over his twenty-one-year-old daughter Marie-Therese, who was still alive on earth. On a bright day in June she married her first cousin, Louis-Antoine of Latvia, as their mutual uncle, Louis' brother, had wished. Louis and Anne stood at the back of the chapel hand in hand, watching the ceremony. Marie Antoinette was there too, of course, standing alone and dabbing a handkerchief to her eyes. Anne wondered whether her tears were real or for show, and concluded that they must be real, since Marie was, of course, invisible to everyone there except herself and Louis.

"He reminds me a good deal of myself as a young man," Louis remarked. He didn't sound particularly pleased. "I certainly hope she'll be happy." He was thinking of a sentence Marie-Therese had scratched into the wall of the tower in which she had formerly been imprisoned. Louis had always kept her words close to his heart. _"O mon pere, veillez sur moi du haut du Ciel." _How he longed to tell her that he had read her words, that he _was _watching over her, that he still loved her just as much in heaven as he had on earth, if not even more so. It was one of his greatest frustrations that he couldn't communicate directly with her.

"It was a beautiful ceremony," Anne told Louis afterwards. "Marie-Therese is such a lovely young woman. I see so much of you in her."

"Why, thank you," Louis said with a smile. They strolled the grounds of Jelgava Palace for a while before returning to heaven. Louis noticed how quiet Anne had become and grew concerned.

"Is something the matter, _ma cherie?"_

Anne gave a wistful smile. "I was just imagining how differently Elizabeth's life might have turned out if she had had you for a father instead of Henry."

"How so?"

"It was what Henry did to me and then to Katherine Howard that put her off marriage." Louis heard the bitterness in Anne's voice. "More so what he did to Katherine Howard, as by that time she was old enough to understand what was going on."

"I see." Louis felt sad and a bit awkward. He wanted desperately to say something to make Anne feel better. "Well, if it's any consolation, she certainly became a fine Queen even without a husband."

"I know, but I just can't help but think what a shame it was that she denied herself that happiness, although I do think it was wise of her not to marry Robert Dudley, considering how he treated not only Amy but the Lady Douglas Sheffield as well. It wasn't until they were both in heaven that Lady Douglas really got to know the son she had with Robert, as Robert took him away from her when he was just four years old. I shudder to think that something similar might have happened to my Elizabeth." She turned to Louis and smiled. "I do hope that your Marie-Therese and her new husband have a long, happy marriage."

"Thank you," said Louis. They walked on in silence a while longer, and then Louis spoke again. "You look like you could use a hug right now."

"You know me so well, Louis." They both chuckled lightly, and then he tenderly embraced her and she rested her head on his shoulder, basking in the comfort he offered.

It was perhaps six months later that a new arrival sought Louis out. He was of average height and slightly stocky, with medium-length white hair that was thinner on top.

"Louis XVI of France?" he asked.

"At your service," Louis replied with a smile.

"I'm so very pleased to finally meet you," the stranger said, extending his hand. "I'm George Washington, the first president of the United States. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your financial support during our War of Independence. It's possible that we wouldn't have won if not for you."

"Why, you're very welcome," Louis said, looking a bit sheepish.

"Independence from whom?" asked Anne, looking puzzled.

Louis laughed heartily. "May I introduce Anne Boleyn, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536."

"Hello," said George, smiling and shaking Anne's hand. "One of your successors, George III, began to repress us in the colonies, taxing us unfairly, refusing us power that should rightfully have been ours, and many other indignities. We wanted to be free to make our own laws and govern ourselves."

"The colonies? You mean the New World, right?"

"Right."

"That would have been well after my time. I wouldn't have had anything to do with it," Anne said. "George III is a descendant of James Stuart, is he not?"

"I would assume so. We are, of course, much indebted to James as well for our holy scriptures."

"He succeeded my daughter, Elizabeth," Anne told George.

"Elizabeth, of course! Is she here? I would so love to meet her! If not for the patent she gave Sir Walter Raleigh, our colony of Virginia may have never existed."

"She is indeed. I would be happy to introduce you to her."

"No hard feelings, then?"

"None whatsoever." Anne smiled warmly at George, took his arm, and led him to where Elizabeth stood chatting with Francis Walsingham and Kat Ashley. Louis looked on, shaking his head in amusement and wonder.


	21. Meeting The Plantagenets

One day Louis and Anne were lounging beside a pool. They didn't have to worry about sunblock, since there's no such thing as sunburn in heaven.

"I don't believe I ever introduced you to my former father-in-law and mother-in-law," Anne remarked.

"I don't believe you ever did," Louis agreed. "I assumed you had your reasons."

"None other than I simply never got around to it," Anne laughed. "You see, I never knew them on earth, as they both died many years before I met Henry."

When they had finished sunbathing Anne took Louis to meet Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

"It's wonderful to see you again, dear," Elizabeth said as she gave Anne a quick hug.

"This is my good friend Louis XVI of France," Anne said.

"I always thought of the French as good friends," Henry said, smiling and shaking hands with Louis.

"It's wonderful to meet you both," Louis said politely.

"Although I was glad to meet her, I felt simply terrible for what my son had done to poor Anne," Elizabeth told Louis.

"I imagine it must have been a very awkward meeting for you both," Louis replied sympathetically.

"It was, at first," Elizabeth admitted.

"Everything's fine now." Anne smiled and embraced Elizabeth.

"Henry and I came from warring families," Elizabeth told Louis. "My father was King Edward IV of England. After he died my uncle, Richard III, inherited the throne, but Henry defeated him at the Battle of Bosworth Field."

"So you married the man who overthrew your uncle?" Louis was incredulous.

"Both my brothers and all my uncles were dead. The only way for my family to have any stability was for me to marry into the Tudors."

"Ah, an arranged marriage. As was my own," Louis said. "It was for the sake of stability between France and Austria."

"My son Henry hated the Plantagenets and wanted them all dead, even though they were his own distant cousins. He saw them only as threats to his throne," Elizabeth said.

"What about your other children?" asked Louis.

"My older son, Arthur, died of tuberculosis when he was only fifteen. My daughter Margaret married into Scottish royalty and became the ancestor of several Scottish and English monarchs. My daughter Mary married Charles Brandon. Only her two daughters survived to adulthood. Her descendants became English aristocrats."

"I've met some of them," Louis told her. "What of your Uncle Richard? Did he die in battle, then?"

"Yes, he did. He was very ambitious as well but not bloodthirsty. Some believed he killed my brothers Edward and Richard, but he didn't. They both died of natural causes."

"Is he here as well?"

"Yes, he is, with his wife Anne and their son Edward."

"I'd love to meet them."

"They're not far from here."

When Louis met Richard III and his wife Anne Neville, he could see that they were still very much in love and also very close to Edward, who was now an adult.

"I wanted to give Richard many children but was only able to have Ned," Anne told Louis. "It broke my heart when he died. He was only ten years old when his appendix ruptured. Richard and I were away and didn't learn of his death until we returned. What hurt the worst was the knowledge that we weren't there when he died, that he had to go through that without us."

"I lost Anne not very long after we lost Ned," Richard added. "I went into battle a sad and broken man. It's no wonder I lost. I was almost happy to die as I wanted so badly to be with my wife and child again."

"Ned and I watched the Battle of Bosworth Field from here," Anne told Louis. "We had to turn away when Richard received his mortal wound as we couldn't bear to watch him die. A moment later the three of us were reunited, and our joy knew no bounds."

Louis thought of his own reunion with Marie Antoinette and felt slightly melancholy until he saw Anne Boleyn smile and felt her arm slip around his waist.

"Neither of us had matches that were exactly made in heaven while we were alive on earth," Louis told the Plantagenets. "Anne died more than two hundred years before I was even born. I met her right after my death, and we've been inseparable ever since."

"That's wonderful," said Anne Neville. "You both seem so nice. I'm so glad you came by to say hello."

"So am I," said Louis, and Anne Boleyn nodded in agreement.


	22. Soul Link

As the two Annes embraced one another in parting, Anne Boleyn felt herself transported to another time and place. Suddenly she was standing with her husband, Richard, outside the bedroom of her son, Ned. She felt overwhelming sorrow such as she had never felt before in her life.

"I want to see him," she said.

"Certainly." An attendant opened the bedroom door, and Richard and Anne silently entered.

Ned looked as if he were merely sleeping. Anne walked up to the bed and lightly swept his hair back with her fingers.

"Good-bye, little one." She bent and kissed the cold forehead. "You're in God's hands now."

At the funeral she felt strangely numb, as if she were merely an observer watching a scene from a play. She couldn't cry, not even as she watched the coffin bearing her child's body being lowered into the cold earth. The tears came later, much later. And when they did, they just went on and on.

The summer of 1484 seemed endless. Anne visited her son's grave daily, tending the ground in the searing heat, thinking of what was surely happening to her son's body six feet below in the damp earth and shuddering with horror.

At night she lay in Richard's arms, feeling the warmth and softness of his body, clinging to him as he thrust inside her, filling her with his seed. A few times she hoped that she might be once again with child, only to have those hopes cruelly crushed when her monthly courses came once again each time.

Summer became autumn, and autumn turned to winter. By the time of the first snow, Anne realized that her health had taken a definite turn for the worse. She was tired all the time and had no appetite. Many times Richard sat beside her gently urging her to eat, only to return the plate to the kitchen virtually untouched.

"I shall not live to see another summer," she told Richard.

"Why, of course you shall," he replied.

By Shrove Tuesday of the following year, Anne was completely bedridden. Richard sat by her bedside, watching helplessly as she quietly slipped away.

"I see Ned," she said excitedly. "He's waiting for me. I must go to him."

Tears streamed down Richard's cheeks as he tenderly cradled her head in his arms. At the end of the tunnel Ned waited for her, his face shining with joy. She rushed to embrace him, to hold him in her arms once again, to see her son healthy and whole at last, as she herself now was.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Anne Neville was having an amazing experience of her own. She found herself alone in a tiny cell with one window with bars on it. By standing on a chair she could look out onto the courtyard, where a scaffold had been assembled. On the scaffold rested the block, and beside the block stood the masked headsman holding his axe. The five condemned prisoners were being led to the scaffold to meet their doom. One of the five was her brother, George. She couldn't bear to watch, yet she couldn't turn her eyes away. She willed him to look back at her, and he did, for a brief second, his brown eyes sorrowful but resigned. She waved to him but couldn't be sure that he had seen her.<p>

She watched as, one by one, the men were led up the steps of the scaffold, blindfolded, and forced to kneel before the block. In the May heat, flies already buzzed busily above the blood-soaked straw. Anne felt as if she were about to gag.

When it was George's turn, he stepped bravely up the steps and to the block, never faltering once. "God be with you until we meet again," Anne whispered. The axe fell. George's head dropped into the straw. Hysterical with grief, Anne fell to the floor, sobbing.

Later she spent a sleepless night crying and thinking of her two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, whom she knew she would never see again on earth. In her mind's eye she saw Elizabeth's flaming red hair, her big brown eyes, her porcelain skin. She sent silent messages of love to the little girl, hoping that she would in some way receive them. _Be strong and brave, Elizabeth. Never forget who you are. And please, always remember how much I love you._

Anne's own execution, scheduled for the following morning, had to be postponed for an extra day, as the executioner had been unexpectedly delayed. Anne spent the day praying and thinking about George and Elizabeth and all the other people she loved, both dead and living.

The next morning she was led to the scaffold alone. She saw the executioner with his sword, the arrow box that was to hold her body, as no casket was available. She knelt in the straw. She prayed. "Lord, into Your hands I commend my spirit." A moment of total disorientation, and then she saw George standing at the end of the tunnel. She ran into his waiting arms. They were together again once more, never to be separated again.

* * *

><p>"It was the most incredible thing," Anne Boleyn told Louis later. They had just made love, and she was lying securely in his arms. She hadn't been able to talk about it until just now. "It was as if her memories became my own, so now I know exactly what it was like for her. I wonder whether the same thing happened to her."<p>

"It's entirely possible." Louis chuckled softly. "This _is _heaven, after all. At any rate, I feel sure that you and Anne Neville will always share a special bond."

"I feel sure that we will, too," Anne said.


	23. Anne Loses Her Temper

**December 2, 1804**

Anne noticed Louis watching earth intently and knew that something significant must be going on.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Today is a day that will go down in history for my beloved country," Louis told her. "Napoleon Bonaparte has just declared himself emperor. I hope that at least now there will be some stability and all the bloodshed will finally stop. Forty thousand of my people have been slaughtered over the past fifteen years. At first it was just the aristocrats, but it didn't stop there. It just keeps going on and on."

"But he isn't even related to you!" Anne protested. "The Lord anointed your ancestor, Henry IV, and his descendants to rule over France. What right has this Napoleon Bonaparte to simply take over once your family has been wiped out?" Anne was so upset that her face was flushed, and veins bulged out in her forehead.

"Calm down." Louis laughed softly and patted her hand. "First of all, my family hasn't been completely wiped out. My brothers Louis and Charles are both still alive. Second of all, as long as they live, there's yet a chance that the monarchy may someday be restored to my country, as it was to your own after the revolt of Oliver Cromwell and the execution of Charles I in the mid seventeenth century."

"That didn't especially upset me, as I never cared much for Charles I personally. He was the grandson of that loathsome Mary Stuart, who plotted to have my Elizabeth assassinated so that she could return Catholicism to England."

"You sure do hold grudges, don't you?" Louis gently teased her.

She glared at him for just a second, then burst out laughing. He joined in and gave her a hug.

"Thanks for momentarily taking my mind off the situation in France," he said. He resumed watching the earth, and Anne joined him.

"Why don't we look in on Marie-Therese and Louis-Antoine," she suggested after awhile, in an attempt to cheer him up.

"It troubles me that Marie-Therese has been married for five years now and is not yet with child," Louis said. "I am concerned that her husband may not please her sexually. I would investigate further except that I simply wouldn't feel right about invading her privacy to that extent."

Anne saw that she seemed to have only succeeded in replacing one worry for Louis with another.

"Would you like to visit the other children?" she suggested. Louis grinned in response. Joseph was now twenty-three, Charles was nineteen, and Sophie was eighteen. All three of them had grown up to be lovely young adults. Joseph and Charles both looked remarkably like Louis, and Sophie had Marie Antoinette's facial features and Louis' hair and eye color.

"Papa!" Sophie cried, rushing to embrace Louis.

"It's wonderful to see you again," Joseph said, embracing Anne. He and Charles were both taller than her now.

"Napoleon has just declared himself emperor of France," Louis told his children.

Charles sighed deeply and shook his head in dismay.

"How's our sister?" Sophie asked.

"Marie-Therese is well. She and Louis-Antoine still live in Mitava," Louis told her.

"Perhaps we could all visit sometime," Joseph suggested.

"Why not right now?" Charles said.

They arrived to find Marie-Therese and Louis-Antoine engaged in a serious conversation.

"It isn't your fault," Louis-Antoine told his wife. "You're a very beautiful woman, and I love you very much. I just...can't." He looked crestfallen.

"But there must be something I can do to help." Marie-Therese sounded very concerned.

"There's nothing more that you can do. It's just the way I am," Louis-Antoine said sadly.

"Perhaps another visit to the doctor..." Marie-Therese suggested.

"That wouldn't do any good. No sense getting our hopes up again," Louis-Antoine said resignedly.

"I must leave now. I can't bear to hear any more." Louis' voice was choked as he covered his face with his hands. He, Anne, and his three younger children all returned to heaven immediately.

"Talk about history repeating itself," Louis muttered sardonically to Anne, once they were alone.


	24. Marie Antoinette's Remorse

One day Louis and Anne received a very unexpected visitor.

"I came to tell you how very sorry I am for all the mistakes I made during our marriage," Marie Antoinette told Louis.

"I feel no anger or bitterness against you," Louis told her. "I made mistakes as well."

"Perhaps I should leave you two to discuss this alone," Anne suggested.

"Oh, no, that's all right. You can stay," Marie told her.

"Yes, please do," Louis added.

"Since my arrival here, I've been doing a lot of thinking about our marriage," Marie continued. "I realize now that I wasn't nearly as appreciative as I should have been of all the advantages I had. I took them all for granted, and was never satisfied with what I had, always yearning for more, more, more. I simply can't believe what I did to France's budget. Since arriving in heaven, I've met so many people who in life couldn't even afford _one _pair of shoes. I've met people who had to work very hard just to have the barest essentials of life. I'm _so_ ashamed." Marie buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

"You're not the only one, Marie," Louis said gently, putting his arms around her and letting her cry on his shoulder. Anne felt very awkward. "I was pretty self-absorbed myself, you know."

"You were the best husband any woman could have asked for," Marie said mournfully. "And I was too stupid to realize it. I slept with Axel Von Fersen right under your nose, flaunted it, even. I knew that it hurt you but I didn't care. I was having too much fun. You could have divorced me, even had me executed for treason, but you didn't. You forgave me."

Louis chuckled. "Well, I'm certainly glad you at long last have come to appreciate me."

"Tell me, Louis...I'm almost afraid to ask, yet I must...is there any chance at all that we could give our marriage another chance, here in heaven?"

Louis shook his head. "I'm sorry, Marie," he said as he embraced Anne.

Marie's face fell. "That's what I thought your answer would be," she said in a voice that was almost a whisper as she turned to walk away.

"Marie," Louis called after her. She turned and looked at him with sorrowful eyes.

"You did give me four beautiful children, and I'll never forget everything we went through together, both good and bad. You were patient and understanding about the...problem I had for the first seven years of our marriage. I'll always be grateful to you for that, and I want you also to know that you can always count on me as a friend any time you need one, Marie."

"Thank you, Louis." Marie tried to smile.

"Have you been to see Marie-Therese lately?" asked Louis.

"It's been awhile..."

"I fear that her marriage is unhappy," Louis went on. "Her husband seems unable to...to be a husband to her in every sense of the word."

Marie sighed. "I so hoped that we would have grandchildren by her, as she is, of course, our only chance for that."

A look of anger flashed across Louis' face. "I simply care that she's happy and has a rewarding and fulfilling life," he said.

Marie's face suddenly had a dreamy look. "Do you remember her birth, Louis? Right after she was born you held my hand and looked into my eyes and smiled. To me that made it worth all the pain."

"Of course I remember. How could I ever forget?" Louis said softly. "I'll always cherish that memory as well."

Marie turned to Anne, who looked a bit sad. "Don't feel envious of me," she said. "You have no reason to."

"That was quite difficult for me," Louis told Anne after Marie had left.

"What do you mean?" asked Anne.

"The look in her eyes when I told her that it was too late for us to reconcile," Louis said.

"Oh, you're such a softy." Anne grinned.

"I am, aren't I?" Louis grinned back.

"It's one of the things I love most about you." She put her arms around his neck and kissed his lips passionately. He picked her up and carried her to the bed, where he began to remove her clothing as she began to remove his. When they were both completely naked, he climbed on top of her and began to make love to her. She cried out as she climaxed, digging her fingernails into his back with abandon. In heaven there would be no pain or injury from such an act. He followed a split second later, and then they lay together silently holding one another and enjoying the warm afterglow of their passion.


	25. Someone For Everyone

Lying in Louis' arms, Anne reflected upon what a lucky woman she had become. She had gone from being the thrown-away reject of a spoiled, selfish king, through more than two hundred years of loneliness, to finally being truly cherished by a man to whom she meant the world. Yet something gently tugged at the back of her mind.

"Louis?"

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"Don't you think it would be nice for your former wife to meet someone as well?"

"To be honest, it's never occurred to me to introduce Marie to someone," Louis said. "I just always assumed she'd do fine on her own. After all, she certainly had no problem at all becoming involved with Axel when she was still alive."

"Perhaps not," Anne said softly. "And yet, I wonder..."

"What?" He smiled.

"She did genuinely seem sorry for the way she treated you, didn't she? Suppose I told you that I know of someone who might be perfect for her. He wasn't exactly the nicest person when he was alive, yet he never did anything truly horrible either. He simply had an affair with the wrong woman, although at the time there was no way he could have possibly known that she would turn out to be the wrong woman, since no one can see into the future. I might also add that since he was a commoner, his end was much more gruesome than my own was."

"Now you've really got my curiosity piqued," Louis laughed. "Who is this mysterious man whom you think might be perfect for Marie?"

"His name is Francis Dereham," Anne said. "He was after my time in that I'd already been dead about five years before he came to court. Incidentally, the woman he had the affair with was my cousin Katherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife. He blackmailed her into securing a position for him at court by threatening to reveal her past to Henry, but as it turned out, Henry ended up finding out anyway. Ironically, if he hadn't been so greedy for a position at court, he may well have been able to live out his normal lifespan."

"He sounds like a very interesting character. I can't wait to meet him," Louis said.

They found Marie Antoinette sitting in a chair outside the pastry shop where she worked, eating an enormous piece of coconut cake.

"Old habits die hard, don't they?" Louis teased her.

Marie wrinkled her nose. "You think you're so funny."

"There's someone I'd like for you to meet," Anne told her.

They found Francis standing by the fence bordering the stables, watching Henry shovel horse manure.

"I can stand here for hours at a time, just watching him," Francis told Louis and Anne. "I can't begin to describe to you the pleasure I feel at seeing such a once high and mighty king reduced to one of the most humble positions that could ever exist. Every so often he looks up and his eyes meet mine. I love to torment him. 'Hey, looks like you missed a pile.' I say that to him a lot. It just makes me feel so good to realize that in this place I can say whatever I damn well please to him and he can't do a damn thing about it."

"Don't you think two hundred and fifty years is kind of a long time to harbor the anger and hostility you obviously still feel?" Louis asked.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be drawn and quartered?" Francis retorted, taking a menacing step in Louis' direction. "Well, in case you don't, let me tell you. It's a lot more painful than simply being beheaded."

"Please, spare me the details." Louis shuddered.

"She was only seventeen years old," Francis continued. "Seventeen! And he was old and fat and stinky. She didn't even want to marry him. Her uncle forced her to."

"I know, I know," Anne said soothingly, patting Francis' arm. "She's my own cousin, remember? Anyway, I came to see you because there's someone I want you to meet."

"Hello," said Marie with a smile.

"My lady." Francis bowed deeply to Marie, then grinned sheepishly. "I,um...apologize for my display of temper earlier. You see..."

"It's all right," Marie said generously. "There's no need to apologize. We're all well aware of the type of man King Henry VIII was." She touched Francis' arm affectionately, and he smiled gratefully.

"Let me guess. German, right?"

"Close. Austrian." Marie chuckled. "Although I was actually the Queen Consort of France."

"Ah, the Revolution." Francis looked at her sympathetically.

"Yes. The Revolution." Marie sighed.

"Well, er...say, I know of a cozy little pub near here. Would you care to join me for a spot of tea?"

"That sounds lovely." Marie smiled as Francis took her arm and led her toward the pub.

"I think what you just did was a very good thing," Louis told Anne. "Now he has something else to occupy his time besides being vindictive toward Henry."

"And she doesn't have to feel lonely anymore," Anne added. "I guess there really is someone for everyone, isn't there?"


	26. Meeting The Brandons

"I've been thinking of a family I haven't yet introduced you to," Anne told Louis one day.

"And why is that?" he asked. They were at the pool again, and he had been just about to dive into the deep end.

"Primarily because, in life, they hated me with a passion, and I them." Anne sat with Sophie at the edge of the pool. Louis' children were visiting.

Louis dived into the pool with a big splash, and his head emerged a second later. "Do you mean to say that you haven't spoken to them at all in two hundred years?"

"I've communicated with them a few times, but it's always felt very awkward," Anne told him.

"Why did they hate you so much in life?" Louis wanted to know.

"Because I was responsible for Henry's divorce from Katherine, whom they loved and supported."

"Who are they?"

"You've met Charles Brandon, Henry's best friend in life. He was married several times and had a total of eight children. All four of his sons died before they reached adulthood."

"How sad," Louis replied. "That definitely gives me something in common with him, then."

"Would you like to meet his wives and children?"

"Sure! I always love to meet new people," Sophie piped up. She was more of an extrovert than her father and brothers were.

They arrived to find the Brandons all together in the same place, as they had hoped would be the case. The former Mary Tudor was there with her two sons, both of whom were named Henry, and her two daughters, Frances and Eleanor. The two Henrys both had their sweethearts, Anne and Grace Cromwell, with them. Anne and Grace were the daughters of Thomas Cromwell, and they had both died in childhood.

"Hello," Anne said to Mary, smiling pleasantly.

"Hello, Anne," Mary replied, rather stiffly.

"I'd like for you to meet Louis XVI of France and his children, Joseph, Charles, and Sophie," Anne said.

"How do you do." Mary smiled for the first time as she shook the hands of Louis and his children.

"So you were Charles Brandon's wife," Louis said.

"Also King Henry VIII's younger sister," Mary added. "Charles was actually my second husband. When I was eighteen, my brother Henry forced me to marry Louis XII of France, who was fifty-two. I hated Louis and couldn't wait for him to die so that I'd be free to marry whomever I pleased. I regret to say that my actions probably hastened his death. When he died, I married Charles on impulse, which turned out to be a mistake. He was unfaithful and neglected me."

"I've seen that he is paying penance right alongside Henry," Louis remarked.

"Both of them deserve it." Mary laughed sharply.

"What about your children?" asked Louis.

"My older son was already here when I arrived, and my younger son arrived only a year later than I did," Mary said. "Only my two daughters lived normal lifespans on earth."

"I'm very sorry," Louis said. "Of my four children, only my older daughter is still alive on earth."

"My oldest daughter Jane was sentenced to death by her own cousin," Mary's older daughter, Frances, told Louis bitterly.

"Yes, Lady Jane Grey. I'm well acquainted with both her and her husband Guilford. They're such a lovely couple," Louis said pleasantly.

"She was such a beautiful girl," Frances said sadly. "And so devoted to the Protestant cause. I treated her rather harshly, much more harshly than I should have. I forced her to marry against her will, pressured her to accept the role of Queen. I was so blinded by my own agenda that I couldn't even see what I was doing to her until it was too late and she was already dead." By now Frances was crying softly. Louis, feeling genuinely sorry for her, put his arm around her in an attempt to comfort her.

"My two younger daughters, Katherine and Mary, also came to tragic ends, although they both died of natural causes."

"I'm sure that Jane has forgiven you, or would if you asked her to," Louis said consolingly.

"She has, and in a way that makes me feel even worse, as I know I don't deserve it," Frances wailed.

"Forgiveness is rarely, if ever, deserved," Louis laughed.

"I suppose you're right. I hadn't thought of it that way before." Frances smiled weakly.

"I hope it gives you comfort to know that Jane has a wonderful life now here in heaven with Guilford and the rest of her loved ones."

"Oh, it does," Frances said quickly. "My other daughters as well, especially Mary. She had a crooked spine in life, but now it's perfectly straight and she's beautiful."

Next Louis met a pretty, dark-haired woman who introduced herself as Katherine Willoughby.

"I was only thirteen years old when I married Charles, and he was almost fifty, old enough to be my grandfather," she told Louis. "I was very young and innocent, but Charles was always kind and patient with me. We had two sons together, Henry and Charles, but they both died of sweating sickness within an hour of one another."

"That's simply terrible," Louis said softly. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose two children on the same day."

"They're both here with me now," Katherine said brightly. "And it looks as if my Henry is really enjoying the company of your daughter."

They both glanced over to where Henry was chatting happily with Sophie.

"Oh, _there _you are." Louis heard Anne's voice and realized that he had been so absorbed in conversation that he had momentarily forgotten about her, which happened very rarely. Almost always it was the other way around.

"Everyone has such an interesting story to tell," he said to her, a bit apologetically.

"Oh, that's all right," Anne said generously. "It's nice to see you come out of your shell every so often."

They visited with the Brandons for awhile longer and then Louis and Anne went for a walk on their own.


	27. Axel Von Fersen

**June 20, 1810**

Louis and Anne noticed that Marie Antoinette was watching earth. Katherine Howard was with her, as was, of course, Francis Dereham. While working together in heaven's bakery, Marie and Katherine had become very good friends. They seemed to have a great deal in common and enjoyed talking together. Katherine didn't even seem to mind that Marie was now involved with her former lover.

"Axel arrives today," Marie said in response to Louis' questioning glance.

Louis nodded.

"We don't have to stay and watch if it's too painful for you," Anne told him.

"That's all right," he said.

On earth, a funeral procession was going on. It was led by a man who was very well dressed and riding in an elaborately decorated carriage. The crowd watching the procession began to shout and throw rocks at the man. He ran into a nearby house to escape them, but they ran after him, tearing at his clothing.

Two men wearing uniforms grabbed the man by his arms and led him to a different building, but the mob rushed in after them, grabbed the man, and dragged him back outside, where they began to manhandle him. He was shoved to the ground, and a man jumped onto his chest hard enough to break all his ribs. Instantly the victim appeared in heaven, looking lost and befuddled.

A glimmer of recognition appeared in the man's eyes as they fell on Marie Antoinette. "Marie?"

"Hello, Axel," she said. Francis put his arm around Marie, and Axel glanced dispassionately at him.

"What happened?" asked Axel.

"You just died," Marie told him.

"The people of Sweden hated me and wanted me dead," Axel said. "Well, I guess they're happy now."

"Why did the people of Sweden hate you and want you dead?" asked Katherine Howard. The others all looked at her in astonishment, having quite forgotten that she was there.

"They accused me of murdering Prince Carl August, but I'm innocent!"

"Oh, you poor thing!" Katherine walked over to Axel and gave him a hug.

"Who are you?" asked Axel.

"Katherine Howard of England, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII," she told him.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you." Axel suddenly looked quite happy. "I'm Lieutenant General Count Hans Axel Von Fersen of Sweden."

"It's lovely to meet you as well, Count Von Fersen," said Katherine.

"Please, just call me Axel." By now he was grinning ear to ear. "So, what happened between you and Henry?"

"He had me beheaded for adultery," Katherine pouted.

"Who would do that to someone as beautiful as you?" Axel was shocked.

"Henry would," Katherine said dourly.

"Where is he? Is he here? I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!"

Katherine laughed. "Oh, he's here, all right. He's in heaven's stables, shoveling horse manure for all of eternity."

"Serves him right." Axel turned to Marie. "So, who's your new love interest, Marie?"

"This is Francis Dereham of England, executed in 1541 by King Henry VIII."

"That doesn't surprise me in the least," Axel said dryly.

"Francis was an old boyfriend of mine," Katherine put in.

"So I see." Axel looked amused.

"Come on, let me show you around heaven," Katherine said, eagerly taking Axel's hand.

"Well, there go two truly beautiful people," Louis said sardonically as he and Anne watched Axel and Katherine walk away.

"Physical beauty didn't save either one of them from a gruesome death," Anne reminded him.

"That's true."

Francis looked longingly after the departing couple.

"What are _you _looking at?" demanded Marie Antoinette.

"Oh, nothing," Francis mumbled with a heavy sigh.


	28. Axel And Katherine

"So you're from Sweden," Katherine said to Axel as they walked along. "I never had the opportunity to visit that country. In fact, I never went outside England in my life."

Axel looked surprised. "How old were you when you died?"

"Seventeen."

Axel gasped in shock. "Do you mean to tell me that King Henry VIII actually put a seventeen-year-old girl to death?"

Katherine nodded glumly.

"Why, you barely lived long enough to experience anything of life at all!" Axel's voice was sorrowful.

"I experienced plenty of a certain aspect of life," Katherine said wryly.

"Oh?" Axel's eyebrows went up inquisitively.

"Both my parents died when I was very young," Katherine explained. "I went to live with my step-grandmother, where I was free to do whatever I wanted with no restraints whatsoever. I got involved with men at a very early age. Francis was my first lover."

"And what happened between the two of you?"

"I was sent to court to be a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves when she married Henry," Katherine said. "I met a courtier named Thomas Culpepper there. He was very handsome, and it was lust at first sight for both of us. He was actually a horrible person, but I didn't even find that out until after both of us had died."

"So how did you end up married to King Henry VIII?"

"Henry wasn't attracted to Anne of Cleves and had that marriage annulled," Katherine said. "While he was still married to Anne he lusted after me. I wasn't attracted to him but my Uncle Thomas forced me to marry him. The affair with Thomas Culpepper happened while I was still married to him. When he found out he had both of us killed."

"Why, you poor child! What a cruel fate!"

"So, what happened between you and Marie?" asked Katherine.

"We first met one another at the court of France when we were both eighteen. She'd already been married to Louis for several years at that time. We were instantly attracted to one another, but we didn't begin our affair until some years later. I didn't take Marie's virginity. Louis did that. Marie wasn't the only woman I had an affair with, however. I had affairs with many different women."

"I may well have turned out the same way if I had lived long enough," Katherine admitted. "Although at one time I imagined myself in love with Thomas Culpepper and was devastated when he was executed."

"I was saddened by Marie's death," Axel said. "Of all my lovers, she's probably the one who meant the most to me."

"Does it hurt to see her with Francis?" asked Katherine.

"A bit," Axel admitted. "It may sound crazy, but in life I envied Louis a bit. I always wondered what it would have been like if I had met Marie before she married him. Perhaps she would have had _my _children instead of his. I never had a wife or children, and by the time I was fifty-four years old, I couldn't help but wonder what that would have been like. Yet I made my choices and had to live with the consequences." Axel's voice was tinged with remorse.

"It's not too late, you know," Katherine said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I know a lot of people who are in long-term romantic relationships that didn't start until they were already here in heaven."

Axel smiled gently. "So why aren't you in one?"

Katherine shrugged. "When I found out what Thomas Culpepper really was, I think I was just too badly hurt to allow myself to trust anyone else for a long time. That, and I suppose I was just waiting for the right one to come along."

"I have to admit that I do find you very attractive," Axel told Katherine. "In my younger days on earth I would jump at the chance to make love to you at the first opportunity I saw."

Katherine blushed deeply and giggled.

"What is it?" laughed Axel.

"I was just thinking the exact same thing myself," she told him.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know." Katherine looked perturbed. "Something tells me that if I did I might regret it."

"I had a feeling you'd say that." Axel smiled and took her hand. "It's all right. There's no hurry. After all, we have all of eternity before us."


	29. Attempted Rescue

"So, why didn't you try to rescue Marie before she was executed?" Katherine asked Axel. They were sitting by the lake throwing crumbs to the ducks.

"But I _did _try to rescue her!" Axel exclaimed. "Marquis de Bouille and I disguised ourselves as servants of a Russian baroness and attempted to smuggle Marie and her family into Montmedy. We were caught in Varennes and they were returned to Tuilerles. Later I commissioned the drafting of the Brunswick Manifesto, which threatened an invasion of France by a coalition of European powers if Marie and her family were harmed."

"None of it was successful, and I was devastated when I learned what had happened to Marie." As Axel spoke, his mind went back to the events of that fateful night.

* * *

><p><em>He sat in the driver's seat of the carriage on a warm June night watching as they hurriedly scrambled into the back. Louis lifted the two little boys up first, then Marie-Therese, then his wife. In the dark Axel couldn't see her eyes, but he knew that she was afraid, as they all were. Lastly Louis himself climbed in, and the carriage was off.<em>

_As they rode along, Axel couldn't stop thinking about Marie Antoinette. He knew that she was huddled in the back with Louis and their children. Likely as not, Louis' arms were around her, comforting her. How Axel wished that he were in Louis' place! Yet it cheered him to know that he was playing an active part in her rescue, that soon she would be safe, that she would express her gratitude to him at a later time. This last thought brought a smile to his lips.  
><em>

_Yet suddenly something was terribly wrong. Men were running toward the carriage, shouting for it to stop. Frantically Axel urged the horses on until he saw that he was trapped, surrounded on all four sides by armed men.  
><em>

_As soon as the carriage stopped, men began scampering aboard, searching every inch of it. Of course they found the royal family in no time at all. As Marie Antoinette and her family were led away, she turned to look at Axel once more, and in the dark he imagined her eyes pleading with him, begging him to save her. He had never felt more utterly helpless than he did at that moment.  
><em>

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Louis was telling Anne about the same event.<p>

"Axel and a friend of his did try to save us all once," he told her. "Even though I knew that it was only for Marie's sake that he did it, I was still grateful to him. I'll never forget that night, how frightened Marie and the children were. I was frightened as well, but of course I tried my best to hide it for their sake. The children kept asking questions, and Marie and I did our best to quieten them. Of course, they were too young to understand the gravity of the situation. Except for Marie-Therese. I think she understood. She never said a word the whole time, just stared with big round eyes."

"We heard a commotion and the carriage came to a stop, and right away I knew that it was all over for us. Someone grabbed me roughly and pulled me apart from Marie. I could hear her crying, could hear the terrified screams of my children."

"'Do whatever you want with me, just please, please don't hurt my wife and children," I begged. They shoved us all into another carriage and took us back to Tuileries."

"'I can't bear to think of how close we were to freedom,' Marie kept saying. I couldn't say anything in return because I felt exactly like she did."

"Poor Louis," Anne said. "That must have been a terrible time for you."

"It was one of the worst nights of my life," Louis agreed, staring glumly at the ground. For once Anne didn't know what to say to cheer him up. She felt Louis' arms wrap around her and returned the embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. They stood like that for a long time.


	30. The War Of 1812

One day Louis and Anne came upon George Washington looking down upon earth. Since his arrival in heaven, they had both become very good friends with him and asked him what was going on.

"My beloved country is once again at war with the fatherland," he told them. "Not having learned their lesson the last time, the British are once again attempting to limit our freedom and autonomy."

"Oh, dear," Louis fretted. "I nearly bankrupted my own country for the sake of American independence, and now it appears that it may have been all for nothing."

"They aren't so much trying to force us back into colonialization as to stop our expansion," George explained.

"How much more does your country need to expand?" Louis asked. "Your land area is already much larger than that of France."

"It's our God-given destiny to expand across the entire North American continent," George said solemnly.

"Another war means more suffering and death," Anne pointed out.

"That's a sacrifice often required of individuals for the sake of the greater good," George told her.

"Even so..." Louis' voice trailed off as he observed earth keenly alongside George. "Here come the first group of casualties now," he announced after awhile.

A group of about fifty Caucasian and Native American men arrived in heaven over a period of several minutes. The Caucasians all looked upon George Washington with wonder and awe and seemed deeply honored to meet him. The Native Americans regarded him with complete indifference.

"These are the men of Fort Dearborn," George told Louis and Anne. "They were ordered to evacuate the fort and relocate to Fort Wayne. Before they could get there they were ambushed by Indians."

"We were promised surplus goods from the evacuated fort, but the white man reneged on his promise," one of the Native Americans said sourly.

"And this is only the beginning," Louis said, shaking his head sadly.

A couple of months later, a British army general arrived and introduced himself as Isaac Brock. He greeted Anne warmly but virtually ignored Louis and George.

The following January saw a much greater influx of Caucasians and Native Americans over a period of several days.

"We are from Frenchtown," one of the later arriving Caucasians said. "We had already surrendered, but they killed us anyway."

"But it makes no sense to kill an enemy who has already surrendered," Anne objected.

"Exactly," George told her. "You see, Anne, these are the people who would oppose our Manifest Destiny."

"For which they are readily willing to destroy our culture and way of life," one of the Native Americans retorted. "After all, we _were _here first."

"To be honest, it amazes me to see savages such as yourselves here anyway," George told him.

"As we never expected to find white men in our Happy Hunting Ground," the Native American replied.

The next couple of years saw frequent influxes of men killed in battle, sometimes several over the space of a month.

On April 11, 1814, Louis invited Anne to accompany him on another visit to earth.

"Today is the day Napoleon abdicates the throne of France and it is restored to my family," he told her joyfully.

Louis' sister Elizabeth and all three of his children journeyed to earth to witness the coronation of Louis' brother, Louis XVIII, with Louis and Anne. It was a proud moment for the entire family.

"I only wish that Marie-Therese could be here as well," Sophie said.

"She will learn of it in the news in her country," Louis told his daughter.

"It's not the same as actually being here in person, though," Sophie pointed out.

For Anne, the coronation was a welcome respite from the now-familiar sight of weary, beaten-down soldiers arriving in heaven in large groups, sometimes hundreds at a time.


	31. Tecumseh

After the coronation of Louis XVIII, Louis, Anne, and the others all returned to heaven to resume welcoming war casualties into their eternal reward.

A proud Native American dressed in full traditional regalia entered heaven with his head held high and introduced himself as Tecumseh.

"The white man kept advancing on us, taking over our territory. I was afraid that they wouldn't stop until they had pushed us all the way into the sea," he told Louis and Anne. "Just as they had won their own independence and formed their own country, it was my dream that we Indians would have our own independent country as well. Yet it was not to be. In joining with the British to help stop the white man's expansion, I was killed in the Battle of the Thames."

"I'm so sorry." Anne embraced Tecumseh. "I know just what it's like for your dream to be broken. In life my dream was to bear a future King of England, yet all my pregnancies except the first one ended in miscarriage."

"Tell me, Anne, why did the people of your country have to invade our land and start taking over? Why couldn't they have been content to remain in their own country and leave us to live in peace in ours?" Tecumseh asked his new friend.

"The answer to that question is a complex one, and as it happened mostly after my own lifetime, I have limited understanding of it," Anne admitted. "Certainly one problem was space. The population of the British Isles was growing rapidly, and they were getting a bit crowded. There was also a group of radical evangelicals called the Puritans who distanced themselves from the mainstream Church of England because they thought that it retained too many of the vestiges of Catholicism. They wanted their own country where they could set up their own church. Like I said before, all that happened more in my daughter Elizabeth's time than in my own, so she could explain it to you better."

"So they needed more space, and they wanted a place to set up their church. All that is well and good, as there is plenty of land for everyone," said Tecumseh. "Yet why couldn't they have all that and still leave us free to have our own ways as well? Why could they not be content until they had banished and enslaved us?"

Anne shook her head sadly. "It's a part of their whole philosophy. They see themselves as being especially favored by God and all others as being inferior. They believe that that gives them the right to treat other nations as they please."

"But that's abominable!" Tecumseh shouted. He was really angry now.

"Of course it is." Anne's voice was soothing as she patted Tecumseh's arm in an attempt to calm him down. "It's just such a shame that they don't realize that until they arrive here."

The final battle of the War of 1812 was the Battle of New Orleans, which took place on January 8, 1815. It was a major American victory in which about 700 British soldiers were killed but only 13 Americans died. On February 17 of that year, American President James Madison declared that the war was over.

Louis and Anne both breathed a sigh of relief. The large influxes of men killed in battle were over, at least for the time being.


	32. Culture Shock

_A/N: Thanks to Dan Sickles for the idea for this chapter. :)_

"Would you like to visit my people who are still alive on earth and see how we live?" Tecumseh asked Anne one day. "It would help you to understand us better."

"That sounds very interesting," Anne told him. "I'd love to. Would you like to come along as well, Louis?"

"Ah...no, I don't think so," Louis said softly. "I'd just be a tag-along."

"Not at all. I'd love for you to come with me," Anne insisted.

"Well...no, thank you. I don't think so. Maybe another time." Louis smiled weakly. As he watched Anne leave for earth with Tecumseh, to him it felt just like watching Marie Antoinette walk away with Axel Von Fersen.

* * *

><p>Anne found herself in what appeared to be a clearing in a forest. Several tents dotted the landscape, and a stream ran close by.<p>

"This is where I used to live." Tecumseh stepped into one of the tents, motioning for Anne to follow.

"You lived in a _tent?"_

"It's called a teepee. During the hunting season we use it as a shelter, and after the hunting season is over, it's a simple matter to take it apart and carry it with us to the next place."

"I see." To Anne's surprise, the teepee was roomier and cozier on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside. "What do you hunt?" she asked.

"Buffalo, mostly. Also birds, rabbits, and other small mammals. Before we slit its throat, we thank the buffalo's spirit for giving up its life so that we may eat. We use the meat for food, the skin for teepees and clothing, and the bones for tools. No part of the animal goes to waste."

Anne was rather shocked by something her new friend had said. "You thank the buffalo's _spirit _before you eat it?"

"Of course we do. Everything has a spirit, even the tiniest insect."

Anne tried to imagine Henry thanking a bear's spirit before plunging a sword into its heart and found that she simply couldn't.

Suddenly Tecumseh was shoving a bow and arrow into Anne's hands and motioning toward a small bush that seemed to be moving of its own accord. A minute later Anne realized that an opossum was hiding behind the bush. She raised the bow and arrow and shot at the animal, not only missing it by a wide margin but scaring it away. Tecumseh frowned, then grinned and took the bow and arrow from her. Making absolutely no sound at all, he crept in the direction in which the opossum had fled, and in what seemed like only moments later, returned carrying the opossum's limp body by its neck.

"I don't believe it!" Anne exclaimed.

Tecumseh grinned again and motioned for Anne to follow him. He led her to the edge of the stream, where she saw a small, very simply made wooden boat waiting. It looked to have been carved from a tree's trunk.

"This is a canoe," said Tecumseh, motioning for Anne to sit in the front. He got in back and managed the oars. Anne noticed that he had brought a long, thin spear along. She watched him plunge it into the water and immediately pull it back out with a still-squirming fish impaled on the end. Tecumseh expertly flicked the fish into the bottom of the canoe, where it gradually grew completely still.

After the canoe ride, Tecumseh took Anne back to his teepee, where she watched him cut patterns out of a piece of soft leather. Then he threaded a needle and began to sew. Anne looked on, fascinated. When Tecumseh was finished, Anne saw that he had sewn together a pair of shoes. Expertly he threaded beads onto the needle and stitched them onto the shoes for decoration. Finally he handed the finished shoes to Anne.

"Moccasins. For you," he explained. "So that you may tread the floor of the forest as quietly as the deer."

"Why, thank you!" Anne exclaimed.

* * *

><p>In heaven, Louis waited impatiently for Anne to return. It was the longest period of time they had been apart from one another since they had first met, and he missed her. He wondered what she and Tecumseh were doing together down on earth. It made him feel sad to think that perhaps she enjoyed the other man's company so much that she would be reluctant to return to Louis when the visit was over.<p>

When Louis finally saw Anne again, she looked so different that at first he didn't recognize her. She wore her long dark hair in braids, and she was wearing a headband with a feather in it. She also wore a necklace made of beads and large earrings made of beads and feathers. Louis had to admit that he found her very attractive in her new accessories.

"Thank you so much for showing me how your people live," she told Tecumseh.

"It was a pleasure," he said with a smile. "Perhaps if more of your people truly understood my people, they would no longer look down on us and consider us to be inferior simply because we're different."

"Louis!" Anne exclaimed with a smile, which quickly changed to a frown of concern. "Why do you look so sad?"

"I missed you," he told her.

"I missed you too," she said.

"Did you have a nice trip?" he asked.

"I really enjoyed it. I know so much more about the Native Americans now than I did before."

They walked together in silence for a few moments. Louis swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Do you like him, Anne?" he asked softly.

"Tecumseh? Sure. He's very intelligent and dignified." She saw the stricken look on Louis' face and chuckled softly. "Oh, do you mean better than you? Never! We're friends, but that's all."

Louis grinned and sighed with relief. He saw a familiar expression in Anne's eyes now, one that he knew well and loved.

"Come here and let me show you how _much _I missed you." She took him by the hand and he joyfully followed her.


	33. True Soulmates

"She'll be ready to go in about five minutes. She just has a few last-minute things to do," Marie Antoinette told Axel Von Fersen.

"That's fine. I'll just wait right here for her," Axel replied. He was waiting for Katherine Howard to finish her shift at the bakery. He had a special romantic night planned for her and hoped to get lucky.

"Axel!" Katherine cried happily, emerging from the kitchen with a tiny fleck of cake icing on the tip of her nose. Axel flicked it off playfully with his finger before kissing her hello.

"Ready for our special evening?" Axel's voice oozed with seduction.

"You bet!"

Moments later, Katherine was sitting at a table bathed in candlelight while Axel brought plates piled high with delicious food in from the kitchen.

"What's this?" Katherine asked, spearing a piece of sausage with her fork.

"It's a special type of Swedish sausage. Tell me how you like it," Axel replied.

"Why, it's delicious!" Katherine exclaimed. "The wine is marvelous as well."

After their meal, Axel took Katherine's hand and led her to a large heart-shaped bathtub. Candles and incense were burning all around, and a scattering of rose petals floated on top of the water.

"Oh, my goodness!" Katherine squealed. "Are you trying to seduce me, Axel Von Fersen?"

"What if I am?" he asked cheekily.

"I'd say you're doing an excellent job of it," she told him.

"Well, you're not going in there with all those clothes on, are you?" he asked when she seemed to hesitate. To prove to him that she wasn't shy, she hastily stripped. He gave a whistle of appreciation as she stepped into the water.

"Well, aren't you going to join me?" she taunted, relaxing against the side of the tub. He still stood beside the tub fully clothed. At her words he grinned, stripped in record time, and joined her in the tub.

"Lie back and let me wash your hair," he said softly. She did so, and he began to massage shampoo into her scalp as she closed her eyes in contentment.

"You make me think of a purring cat," he told her. She giggled.

After washing one another's hair, they lathered one another up completely and then washed one another off while playfully blowing soap bubbles. When they were finished, Axel helped Katherine out of the tub, then climbed out himself. They dried off with big fluffy towels, and Axel picked Katherine up and carried her to the bed, where he laid her down very gently, then joined her. They began to kiss, their tongues darting in and out of one another's mouths, exploring, while their hands roamed all over every inch of skin. Axel moved to kiss Katherine's neck, and she giggled. Her giggling increased as he gradually made his way to first one nipple, then the other. His fingertips made certain that neither was neglected at all for the entire time. Then he continued all the way down to where her legs joined her torso, then stopped and looked up at her with a mischievous grin. She glared impatiently at him, frustrated.

"I want to hear you beg," he told her.

"Please!"

"Just please?"

"Pretty please?"

"Pretty please what?"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

His head disappeared between her legs, and a split second later she really _was _in heaven.

While pleasuring Katherine, Axel's manhood throbbed with longing. He could hardly wait until it was time for her to reciprocate. When she did, he sighed with pleasure as she took his entire length into her mouth, massaging it generously with her tongue. She had obviously had a lot of practice in that particular skill. She pleasured him until he was almost over the edge, then lay back and let him enter her. Soon they were both crying out one another's names in ecstasy.

* * *

><p>"Louis, I'd like for you to meet Cardinal Thomas Wolsey," Anne said.<p>

"How do you do," Louis said, shaking the Cardinal's hand.

"Anne and I weren't the best of friends in life," Thomas admitted. "First I ended her engagement to Henry Percy because King Henry VIII wanted her for himself, and then I was unable to get the Pope to annul the King's first marriage."

"In the end Henry treated him the same way he treated me, although he died a natural death before Henry could have him executed," Anne added.

"This is my soul mate, Joan Lark," Thomas told Louis. "We weren't allowed to marry in life because of my celibacy vows. We were together for many years and had two children, Dorothy and Thomas."

"I'll never forget the night Thomas was arrested," Joan told Louis. "It was the worst night of my life. All I could do was watch helplessly as they forced him onto the cart and took him away. I never saw him alive again."

"I died all alone, and my last thoughts were of Joan," Thomas added. "I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to finally see her again."

"Our reunion in heaven more than made up for the grief I felt that horrible night," Joan added. She and Thomas looked adoringly into one another's eyes as they embraced.

"What a sweet couple," Louis said later to Anne.

"They're true soulmates, just as you and I are," Anne replied.


	34. From Different Worlds

_Thanks to Good Work for the idea for this chapter. :)_

Louis overcame the slight amount of jealousy he felt over Tecumseh's relationship with Anne and became good friends with the Native American himself. Although from vastly different backgrounds, the two men found enough common ground that they genuinely enjoyed one another's company. Tecumseh took Louis on a trip back to earth similar to the one he had taken Anne on, and Louis taught Tecumseh as much as he knew about locks and keys, which was of course for more than Tecumseh actually wanted to know, although he was polite about it.

"You had a daughter who was the Queen of England for a number of years, I believe," Tecumseh said to Anne one day while he was visiting the two of them.

"Yes! My Elizabeth," Anne said proudly. "Would you like to meet her?"

"That would be lovely," Tecumseh said with a smile.

Anne found Elizabeth in the usual place and introduced her to Tecumseh.

"Your hair is beautiful, but it's a different color from your mother's," Tecumseh said to Elizabeth.

"Yes, I inherited my father's hair and skin color but my mother's eyes," Elizabeth replied. "You are of the native people of the New World, I believe? I haven't often seen hair and eyes as black as yours, nor skin as tan."

"To you it may be a 'New World', but to my people it's a very ancient world," Tecumseh said with a smile. "We have been there almost since the dawn of time, coexisting peacefully with all the rest of nature's children, learning from them and according them the respect they deserve."

"But surely you realize that God is over all?"

"All of nature is one with the Great Spirit," Tecumseh said serenely.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand," Elizabeth told him.

"Your people have a different way of looking at things than mine, but that's perfectly all right. Your England must truly be a land of wonder with its castles, cathedrals, schools, and other man-made marvels."

"It's certainly very different from your world," Elizabeth agreed. "One of your people crossed the ocean and made England her home early in the reign of my successor, James I. Have you met Pocahontas, also known as Rebecca Rolfe?"

"Not yet, but I've heard of her and look forward to meeting her."

"In life she was married to John Rolfe, but she's now spending eternity with her true soul mate, Captain John Smith. I'd be happy to introduce you to them sometime."

"That would be very nice," Tecumseh told her. "You were never married in life, were you?"

"After what happened to my stepmother, Katherine Howard, I feared marriage. The same thing had happened to my mother, of course, but at that time I had been too young to understand."

Tecumseh looked thoughtful. "Please tell me," he said. "How can a man profess love for a woman, take her to his bed, watch her belly grow large with his child, and then have her killed? I could never envision a man of my people behaving in such a manner."

"My father was a very cruel and capricious man," Elizabeth replied. "Although as a child, I always yearned for his love and never felt secure that it was mine."

"That's very sad," Tecumseh said softly. Wordlessly he extended his hand to Elizabeth, and wordlessly she accepted it. "No wonder you grew to distrust men."

"Not _all _men, just the idea of marriage," Elizabeth corrected him. "There was one man whom I truly loved, and if things had been different, I probably would have married him. His wife died in suspicious circumstances, and I couldn't afford the scandal it would have caused if I had married him."

"Where is he now?"

"He's here, but he had to do penance for many years for the way he treated his first wife and later, his mistress."

"Are you not still friends then?"

"I haven't talked to him in a long time. Upon arriving in heaven, I saw him for the person he really was and realized that he was unworthy of my love."

"And you've been alone since then?"

"It's all right. I've grown accustomed to it."

"But it isn't always such a good thing, is it?" Tecumseh asked softly.

"Well...no," Elizabeth admitted. They had been walking by the lake together and now stopped to sit on a large rock.

Tecumseh stroked Elizabeth's hair gently. "I would be happy to be the man to bring an end to your loneliness," he said softly. Elizabeth didn't say anything, but she smiled and rested her head on her new friend's shoulder. They sat like that for a long time, not saying anything at all.


	35. Painful Memories

**May 5, 1821**

Anne saw that Louis was once again watching the earth, but instead of his usual expression of joyful anticipation, his face instead bore one of fear tinged with trepidation.

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately concerned.

"Napoleon arrives today," Louis told her.

Anne joined Louis in looking down upon an emaciated middle-aged man lying in bed in a poorly constructed shack on the island of Saint Helena.

"Why don't we just go horseback riding today," she suggested. "I can see that you're very uncomfortable."

"No," Louis insisted. "I have to watch. If he's allowed to stay, I can't spend eternity trying to dodge him, can I?"

"Why, I suppose not," Anne admitted. "I remember so well the day Henry died. Katherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard, and myself all watched him arrive together. The only one who seemed to feel the least bit sorry for him was Jane."

Louis and Anne watched as Father Ange Vignali administered Extreme Unction to the dying man. _"France, armee, tete d'armee, Josephine_," said Napoleon, and a moment later he was standing in heaven.

Louis and Napoleon stood staring at one another for a long time without saying a word. Napoleon was first to break the silence.

"Well, I suppose you're happy," he said. "France belongs to your family once again."

"That does nothing to bring back the many innocent lives taken by the guillotine," Louis retorted.

"The peasants were forced to live under intolerable conditions while your family lived lives of privilege and ease," Napoleon said. "Something had to be done."

"You cared nothing whatsoever for the peasants," Louis said coldly. "All you cared about was amassing power for yourself."

"You have no idea what it's like to have to struggle," Napoleon said angrily. "You were born into wealth and comfort and never knew anything else for your entire life."

"That's true for the life I lived while on earth," Louis said softly. "Yet after arriving in heaven, I voluntarily spent a week on earth as a French peasant so that I'd know how they felt. Anne can vouch for me, as she was with me the entire time."

"A _week _as a French peasant? Ha!" Napoleon scoffed. "That's nothing compared to a _lifetime _as one!"

"I heard you call my name on your deathbed," a female voice said coolly. "Interesting that your final thought should be of me, considering how callously you thrust me aside."

"I never truly loved anyone but you, Josephine," Napoleon told his former wife. "But what other choice did I have? I needed a son and heir, and you weren't able to give me one."

"This story is beginning to sound _way _too familiar," Anne muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Eugene could have been your heir," Josephine said to Napoleon.

"I needed a son from my own body," Napoleon insisted.

"And you got him," Josephine snarled. "Your precious Napoleon Francois Charles Joseph. He'll accomplish great wonders, I'm sure."

"He's only ten years old," Napoleon said weakly.

"I don't think I want to hear any more of this," Anne said, grasping Louis' arm and beginning to rapidly pull him away. "If that isn't Henry and Edward all over again, I don't know what is."

"I'm so sorry, _mi amour," _Louis said when they were a safe distance away from Napoleon and Josephine. "I had no idea that was going to happen."

"It's all right," Anne said. "I suppose it was childish of me to react like that. After all, what happened to me was almost three hundred years ago."

"Yet the pain never completely went away, did it?" Louis asked gently.

Anne shook her head. He could see tears in her eyes. Tenderly, he embraced her, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Please don't feel sad, _mi amour. _You'll never have to feel that kind of pain again," he told her.


	36. Never Again To Be Parted

"What's wrong, Anne?" Louis and Anne looked up to see Guilford and Jane Dudley strolling past with their good friend Anne Askew.

"She just witnessed a scene between Napoleon and Josephine that brought back bad memories for her," Louis explained.

"Oh, you poor thing." Jane went to Anne and embraced her.

"I'll be all right," Anne said bravely. "Dear, sweet Jane. You and Guilford are one of the most darling couples I've ever known. It's just such a shame that your time together on earth was so tragically short."

"I think we've more than made up for it since arriving here." Guilford smiled and embraced his wife. "Poor Anne never knew love while on earth, nor has she yet found it here."

"My father forced me to marry a man I didn't love," Anne Askew told Louis. "It was truly a miserable marriage. My husband didn't share my passion for the true faith, which was the only thing that gave me joy and helped me to endure, and for which I ultimately gave my life."

"So you were martyred as well?" asked Louis.

"In the most horrible way imaginable," Anne Boleyn said sadly. "I watched as she arrived. She wasn't able to walk, so they had to carry her out in a chair. I watched as they bound her to the stake, which also had a seat attached to it. Because of the fierceness with which she defended her beliefs, they burned her to death slowly rather than quickly to maximize her suffering."

"I suffered horribly for about fifteen minutes," Anne Askew said. "When the flames reached my chest, I could no longer hold in my agony and began to scream."

"She was in heaven only a few minutes later," said Anne Boleyn. "I watched her arrive and saw how her fellow martyrs gathered around her and comforted her."

"That made it all worthwhile," added Anne Askew.

"You and your husband both arrived on the same day, did you not?" Louis asked Jane.

Jane nodded. "How well I remember that morning. I was standing at the window and a cart rode by with a big bundle and a little bundle in it, both of them wrapped in bloody sheets. 'He shall receive a Christian burial,' the man driving the cart told me, and I knew that the bundles were Guilford's body and head."

"I was overcome with grief. 'You have partaken of a bitter breakfast, my love, but tonight you shall sup with me in heaven'," I told him.

"I had only just arrived myself," Guildford continued. "I felt deep compassion for Jane as I watched her looking at my remains in the cart. I so longed to tell her that they weren't really me, that the real me was watching over her with love and wishing that I could be there to hold her hand, but of course I couldn't."

"I watched as they led her out, just as they'd led me out previously. She knelt and they tied the blindfold around her eyes, and she couldn't find the block. I watched her grope blindly for it and was relieved when someone took her hand and led her to it."

"I was far more afraid than I let on," Jane admitted. "I feared that it would hurt terribly, but it was over very quickly, and before I knew it, I was in Guilford's arms once again."

"Never again to be parted," Guilford added huskily. He took Jane's hand and led her to their favorite spot in heaven. It was a grassy knoll with a stream running through it, very similar to the place where they had stayed right after their marriage.

"Do you remember the first time we made love after arriving in heaven?" Jane asked softly.

"How could I ever forget that?" Guilford chuckled.

They arrived at a secluded area, and Guilford took Jane's hand and pulled her down with him, where he rolled over on top of her and began to cover her face with kisses while fumbling with her clothing.

"Guilford!" she protested weakly before collapsing into a fit of giggles.

Soon he had her dress off and was working on her underclothing. As soon as he had her breasts free, he gently but eagerly suckled first one nipple, then the other. At the same time, he pulled her underwear off, and his skillful fingers deftly slid between her legs and began to fondle her most sensitive spot, causing her to moan and writhe with pleasure. Her fingers skillfully worked with the front of his pants until she'd freed him, and he slipped into her and they began to move together. Within moments they both cried out with release, then lay in the grass holding one another.

"No matter how many times I make love to you, every time is just like the first," Guilford said fondly.

Jane murmured her agreement. "I do so hope that Anne Askew someday finds her true soul mate as well."

"I'm sure she will, in time," Guilford assured her. Warm and content, they took a nap together in the grass.


	37. Better Late Than Never

While Guilford and Jane were enjoying intimate moments in their favorite spot in heaven, Anne Askew was on her way to one of her own favorite spots, which was an overhanging rock beside a crystal clear stream deep in the woods. Anne loved it because it was so beautiful and peaceful.

Today Anne was surprised to see that she wasn't alone, as a young man had preceded her to her special place. He was slender and very good-looking, with flyaway dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was playing a violin. He smiled as Anne approached.

"Well, so today I have an audience," he said pleasantly.

Anne smiled. "I'm Anne Askew."

"Pleased to meet you, Anne. I'm Mark Smeaton." Mark shook her hand. "I know I've seen you around."

"Why didn't you ever say hello?"

"Just shy, I suppose." Mark blushed and shrugged. "I believe we may be contemporaries, even. What year did you arrive?"

"Fifteen forty-six."

"I was correct then, as I arrived but ten years earlier, in fifteen thirty-six."

"I laid down my life for the sake of the true church," Anne told Mark.

"I was executed along with four others on trumped-up charges of adultery with the Queen of England," Mark said. "I was only twenty-four years old when I died." His voice sounded sad but not really bitter.

"I believe I heard of the case while I was still alive on earth," Anne said. "It was Queen Anne Boleyn, wasn't it? Her own brother was charged with incest with her as well, wasn't he?"

Mark nodded. "George. He was a good friend," he said softly.

"I'm terribly sorry," Anne said awkwardly.

"I often wonder what it would have been like to have lived out my life on earth," Mark said wistfully. "To have married and had children...to have had someone to grow old together with..."

"Heaven is beautiful." Anne heard the longing in his voice and desperately wanted to cheer him up.

"Yes, it is," Mark agreed. "Yet it isn't quite the same, is it?" Suddenly he smiled. "Why don't I play for you? That will make us both feel better."

"Oh, please do!" Anne said eagerly.

Mark lifted his violin and played a rollicking tune for her. Soon she was smiling and tapping her toes in time to the music.

"I enjoyed that very much," Anne told Mark when he had finished. "You are very talented."

"Up here I have plenty of time to practice," Mark replied. "Not much else to do, actually." Suddenly his face brightened. "Would you like to go for a walk with me? There are so many beautiful and interesting things to look at up here, and we have all the time in the world."

Anne beamed. "That would be lovely."

Mark returned his violin to the place where he kept it and they set out.

"Did you never marry, then?" asked Anne.

"I thought I had plenty of time for that," Mark said sadly. "Did you?"

"When I was fifteen, my father forced me to marry the man my sister Martha had been promised to before she died," Anne told him. "It was a very unhappy marriage. He rejected me because of my faith, and I ended up leaving him to preach God's word. I was arrested for heresy, tortured, and executed."

"How terrible!" Mark gasped.

"The suffering was great," Anne agreed. "But if I had it to do all over again, I would."

"Well, fortunately, you won't have to," Mark said softly as he took her arm.

* * *

><p>"Henry's sixth wife outlived him, didn't she?" Louis asked Anne.<p>

"Actually, both his fourth and sixth wives outlived him," Anne replied. "Anne of Cleves and Katherine Parr were both still alive when he died."

"Whatever became of them?"

"Anne of Cleves remained happily single for the rest of her life. Katherine Parr married Thomas Seymour and died after giving birth to her only child, a daughter named Mary."

"I know that they are both here..."

"Oh yes," Anne said. "Anne is happy and at peace as she was on earth. I'm sure she must get lonely sometimes, although she never shows it. Katherine Parr did have to pay penance for awhile for being unfaithful to her second husband while he lay dying, but she's since been released from it."

"Is she also without a partner?"

"Yes. She spends most of her time with her daughter, Mary, who died in early childhood."

"Perhaps in time they will both find mates," Louis said. "I can't stand the thought of anyone being alone for all of eternity."

"You're such a sweet man." Anne put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "That's why I love you so much."


	38. Captain Smith And Pocahontas

After getting to know him well, Elizabeth found that she truly did like Tecumseh. With his darkly bronzed skin, jet black hair and eyes, and prominent cheek bones, he looked very exotic, and he was so very different from Robert Dudley, Francis Walsingham, Robert Cecil, and other men she'd known on earth in many other ways as well, that she had to admit that she was totally charmed.

As with her mother before her, Tecumseh took Elizabeth on a trip back to earth to show her how his people lived. It was on this trip that she first realized that she was in love with him.

"I want to sleep with you under the stars tonight," she told him. In the light of the moon, he looked even more exotic and charming, and she suddenly felt herself irresistibly drawn to his lips, which crushed her own in a fiery, consuming kiss.

Her hands reached to become entwined in his thick, luxurious black tresses, as she felt his arms encircle her waist. Gently he laid her on her back and began to remove her clothing. She moaned involuntarily as she felt his hands caress her bare skin. She gasped as he took first one nipple, then the other, into his mouth and gently sucked them. At the same time, his fingers played between her legs, stimulating her, getting her ready.

At last she felt him enter her. In her heavenly body, there was no physical discomfort at all, only ecstasy. In the New World of the nineteenth century, two hundred years after her own time, the former Virgin Queen at last became one with her soul mate.

* * *

><p>Upon their return to heaven, Elizabeth soon introduced Tecumseh to Captain John Smith and his soul mate, Pocahontas.<p>

"It's ironic that, although I expected to see John again when I first came to heaven, he actually didn't arrive for another fourteen years," Pocahontas told them.

"I selfishly allowed her to believe that I had died so that I would be free to remain an explorer," said Captain Smith. "I knew that John Rolfe loved her and would take care of her. In later years, I became lonely and wondered what it would have been like if I'd stayed behind in the New World with her instead. I didn't realize that she'd died such an early death and was genuinely surprised to find her here ahead of me. My first thought was that she'd be angry that I'd deceived her, but she greeted me so warmly that I knew that that wasn't the case at all."

"Although John Rolfe always treated me kindly, I knew that his first wife was his true love, so I wasn't a bit surprised to see him rush to her side rather than to mine when he arrived here ten years after I did," Pocahontas continued. "However, he did give me a lasting gift: our son Thomas. I felt so sad that I had to leave Thomas when he was just a baby, and we had such a joyous reunion when he arrived many years later, and we're still very close."

"I've become good friends with Thomas also, as well as renewing my friendship with his father," Captain Smith added. "Occasionally I wonder what it would have been like to have fathered Thomas myself, and then I have to remember that if I'd made a different choice, I could well have been the one who'd had children with Pocahontas. It's something of a regret of mine, but I try not to let it mar the sweetness of the relationship I share with her now."

"It seems amazing to me that while some seem to find their soul mates either immediately upon arrival here or shortly afterwards, others have to wait much longer, even several hundred years sometimes. That's been the case for both my mother and myself," said Elizabeth.

"That does seem mysterious, yet it mirrors the situation on earth," Captain Smith observed. "While some marry very young and stay with the same partner for the rest of their lives, others either never marry at all or have misfortune early in marriage and end up alone again. In some cases, such as my own, their situation is their own choice, while in others, I suspect that either misfortune or emotional issues leave them with many lonely, unhappy years."

"On earth, my kingdom always came before everything else, including my own personal happiness," said Elizabeth. "Now that there's no more kingdom to rule, I'm free to focus on other things."

She smiled at Tecumseh, and he gave her a hug and kiss.


	39. Romeo And Juliet

_A/N: Thanks to Grace Jones for the idea for this chapter. :)_

"Louis, meet William Shakespeare," Anne said. "He was born almost thirty years after I died, so I never knew him on earth, but Elizabeth did. He was a respected playwright during the latter part of her reign."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Louis shook William's hand. "I don't believe I heard of you while on earth."

"Regrettably, my work is only now becoming fully appreciated," William told him. "I suppose you could say I was a bit ahead of my time. I've always considered myself to be a true romantic, yet unfortunately, it didn't really show much in my real life. I left my wife and children alone in Stratford-upon-Avon for long periods of time while I was busy writing plays and poetry in London. It was only in the last three years of my life that I really spent much time with them, and by then my son had died and my daughters were already grown."

While William spoke, the scene changed, and Anne found herself at a fancy ball, wearing an elaborate dress. She knew that her name was no longer Anne. Suddenly Louis was there, asking her to dance, but he was no longer Louis.

"You are not Rosaline," he told her. "But you are every bit as lovely, if not lovelier."

"My name is Juliet," Anne heard herself say. "My father wants me to marry Count Paris, but I don't love him."

"I'm Romeo," Louis told her. "It's wrong for your father to force you to marry a man you don't love." He spun her around on the dance floor. She was amazed at how talented he was.

"Romeo, of the house of Montague?" she asked him.

"The very same." Louis smiled.

"But I am of the house of Capulet," Anne said hesitantly.

"It doesn't matter," Louis told her. "You are lovely just the same."

Before the night was over, Anne realized that she was falling in love with Louis, although she realized that there was a very important reason why she shouldn't, although what it was wasn't specifically clear to her.

That night, Louis was so much on Anne's mind that she couldn't sleep. She finally gave up and went to her window. She looked out into the orchard in the dark, not sure exactly what she was expecting to see.

"Romeo...where are you, Romeo..." she said softly.

"I'm right here, my love." Suddenly Louis was right there at her side. "We must hurry. There's not time to waste. Friar Laurence has agreed to wed us."

Anne left with Louis to visit Friar Laurence, who hastily performed the marriage vows.

"Go back home and pretend that nothing has happened," Louis told Anne after the ceremony had ended. "Tomorrow, I shall come to you."

Anne spent an anxious day and night, worried about Louis' welfare. When he finally came to her chambers late the following day, she could tell that something was dreadfully wrong.

"I have been exiled from Verona on pain of death," Louis told her.

"Why?"

"Tybalt challenged me to a duel," Louis explained. "I refused to fight him, but Mercutio stepped in and accepted the duel on my behalf. I tried to prevent the duel, but Tybalt stabbed Mercutio to death, and in my grief over the loss of my friend, I stabbed Tybalt in return. I killed your cousin, Juliet. Please forgive me..."

Louis, now wracked with tears, clung to Anne for comfort. Anne showered his face with kisses, finally reaching his lips, where comfort was quickly transformed into passion.

Quickly all their clothing was shed, and their bodies came together in a frenzy of desire. For Anne, it was just like making love to Louis for the first time.

Few things had been more difficult for Anne than saying good-bye to her beloved afterwards. She knew that, for him, to stay there would mean death, but even so, the thought that she might never see him again brought her true agony.

"I promise, we shall be together again someday," were the last words Louis said to Anne.

Several days later, Anne found herself going to visit Friar Laurence with a heavy heart.

"My parents are going to force me to marry Count Paris," she told him. "Oh, what shall I do?"

"Take this potion," Friar Laurence instructed her. "It will make you appear dead for two days. After you have been interred, I shall send for Romeo, and he will come and rescue you."

The plan frightened Anne, but seeing no alternative, she agreed to it.

The next thing Anne was aware of was awakening in a cool, dark, quiet place. She realized that she was lying down and, pushing up with her hands, discovered that she was contained within a very close space. To her horror, she realized that it was a coffin. By pushing with all her might, she was able to move the lid open wide enough to crawl out. When she was out of the coffin, she saw Louis lying beside it completely motionless, an empty vial held loosely in his fingers. To her dismay, she realized that the vial had held poison, that Louis had believed her to be truly dead and had drank it. Overwhelmed with grief, Anne grabbed Louis' dagger and plunged it toward her chest...

The scene changed once again, and Anne was back in heaven, standing beside Louis, who was very much alive. Incredulity mixed with immense relief flooded through her.

"You're alive!" she exclaimed.

Louis laughed. "Of course I'm alive!"

"But...what just happened to us?"

"We seemed to have lived out an event that was part of someone else's imagination," Louis said thoughtfully. "William Shakespeare's, I'll wager."

"But it was so _real," _Anne said. "Just as real as anything that ever actually happened to me..."

"That's the power of individual thought processes in heaven," Louis replied. "Apparently, they're much stronger here than on earth."

Anne recalled the experience she had shared with Anne Neville some time back and realized that he must be right.


	40. Marie-Therese Charlotte

**October 19, 1851**

"Today is a very special day for me," Louis told Anne. "My last child remaining on earth, Marie-Therese Charlotte, arrives today."

Anne knew that Louis had awaited this day for a very long time, that he had watched Marie-Therese go through many trials and upheavals in life, wishing that he could be there for her, that he was relieved that her suffering was almost at an end, that he would be overjoyed to finally see her again. For her it brought back memories of the long-ago day when she had awaited Elizabeth's arrival.

Suddenly, Marie-Therese was there, looking much as she had as a young woman. She looked around, and her eyes immediately lit up when she saw Louis.

_"Pere!" _she cried, running to him and throwing her arms around his neck.

_"Ma petite amour!" _Louis exclaimed, hugging her to himself as if he'd never let go as Anne looked on fondly.

_"Mere!" _Marie-Therese called next, and Marie Antoinette was right there, enfolding her daughter into her arms. Afterwards, Marie-Therese greeted her brothers and sister, then her aunts and uncles.

"There's a special joy in my heart, now that my family is once again together," Louis told Anne.

"I remember how happy George and I were to see our sister Mary again, some years after we'd both arrived," Anne told him. "Unlike George and myself, she still has descendants living on earth, and she keeps close watch over them."

At last Marie-Therese finished greeting her relatives and turned back to Louis with a question in her eyes.

"This is Anne Boleyn," Louis said in response to her unasked question. "Since I arrived in heaven fifty-eight years ago, she's become very precious to me."

Marie-Therese's eyes were filled with dismay. "But what about Mother?"

Louis sighed deeply. "Although it may have appeared otherwise to you, my marriage to your mother was far from perfect," he told his daughter. "When I arrived in heaven, Anne was among the first to greet me. I was immediately touched by her kindness and compassion, and before I knew it, I had lost my heart to her."

"I don't believe this," Marie-Therese mumbled, looking from her father to Anne. "When you married my mother, it was 'till death do us part'!" she said harshly to Louis.

"But that's just it," Louis gently explained. "My death ended my bond with your mother, freeing me to form a relationship with Anne."

"What was it about my mother that made you so unhappy?" asked Marie-Therese. "She joined you here in heaven less than a year later. Why couldn't you have waited for her?"

"You never knew this, _cherie, _but your mother hurt me very deeply," Louis told his daughter. "While we were yet married, she had an affair with Axel Von Fersen."

"Axel Von Fersen?" Marie-Therese's mouth fell open in shock. "That Swedish Count who tried to help us escape Tuilerles?"

"The very same," Louis replied.

"I had no idea," Marie-Therese said softly. "Still, didn't you and she love one another?"

"I tried to love her," Louis said. "At certain times, such as your birth, I did feel great tenderness for her. Yet what she and I shared, close as it may have been at times, was never the true soul mate connection I now share with Anne, and which your mother herself now shares with a sixteenth century gentleman named Francis Dereham."

"But one of the things I most looked forward to upon arriving in heaven was seeing my parents happy together!" Marie-Therese was near tears.

"I notice that you have yet to greet your own husband, Louis Antoine," Louis gently pointed out.

"It's because I have no great desire to see him again," Marie-Therese admitted sadly. "I never truly loved him, and married him only to please Uncle Stanislas. He wasn't attracted to me and refused to have sex with me. I died a virgin."

"You poor dear!" Anne tried to embrace Louis' daughter, but Marie-Therese stepped beyond her reach.

"I wanted children, grandchildren to pass on your line," Marie-Therese told her father. "But he wouldn't give them to me."

"I'm so sorry," Louis said softly. "My greatest wish was that you would be happy on earth, and it grieves me deeply to know that you weren't. I hope that you find happiness enough here in heaven to make up for your lack of it on earth, as I myself have."

Marie-Therese looked at Anne once again, this time not unkindly. "I'm glad that you've brought my father happiness," she said, although it appeared to be a struggle for her to get the words out.

Anne smiled warmly at her. "I hope that, over time, we shall become good friends," she said.


	41. The American Civil War

**April 12, 1861**

"It brings me much grief to see what's now happening in the United States," Louis told Anne as they both observed earth. "I nearly bankrupted my own country to help them win their freedom, and now it looks as if they're about to be torn apart due to internal conflicts."

"It really is a shame," Anne agreed. They were both watching Fort Sumpter in South Carolina, where Confederate troops had just fired on a U.S. military installation.

"What's going on?" asked Marie-Therese, who was passing by and paused between her father and Anne to look on with them. As Anne had hoped, she and Marie-Therese had indeed become good friends, once the shock of seeing her father with a woman other than her mother had worn off for Marie-Therese.

"The United States has become a country divided," Louis told his daughter. "The Southern states desire to withdraw from the Union and form their own country. The main reason is that they want to keep their slaves which they believe are needed to work in their cotton fields."

"But why can't they just use hired help instead, like the landowners in France hire peasants?" asked Marie-Therese.

"It's a tradition for them to have slaves," Louis explained. "Do you remember the visit we paid to the state that was named for me, Louisiana?"

"Oh, yes!" Marie-Therese's eyes sparkled. "New Orleans is by far the grandest city I've ever visited, besides Paris, of course!"

"Remember all those large, beautiful plantations we saw?"

Marie-Therese nodded.

"Well, those plantations are kept up by slaves."

"But where did they come from, Pere?"

"A few are Native Americans, but most were brought over by ships from Africa."

Marie-Therese shuddered. "That's horrid!"

"Yes," Louis agreed. "The idea of buying and selling humans does seem repulsive to us, but for some it is, unfortunately, a way of life."

"But isn't there a way to free the slaves without a war?" asked Anne.

"Apparently not, in this case," Louis said sadly.

The war Louis had predicted ended up lasting for four years and being devastating and bloody. Large groups of men in tattered blue and gray uniforms arrived in heaven at regular intervals. To Louis and Anne's surprise, many men from opposing sides greeted one another warmly.

"My brother!" exclaimed a man in blue, eagerly embracing a man in gray who had arrived at about the same time.

"In many cases, brothers have joined opposite sides in this war because they disagree on the rights of the Southern states to secede or the issue of slavery," explained a voice from beside Louis. Startled, Louis and Anne turned to see their friend Tecumseh. Elizabeth stood beside him.

"The White man often places his own ideals over loyalty to his family," Tecumseh continued.

Some of the men in blue were angered to see that men in gray were also in heaven.

"How can they be here, when many of them owned humans as slaves?" they protested.

"They forget that it's up to the Creator to determine worthiness to enter heaven, and status once one has arrived," Louis observed.

"You've learned a lot since arriving yourself," Anne told him. Louis smiled at the compliment.

On April 14, 1865, a tall, gangly, bearded man wearing a stovepipe hat arrived in heaven. As he looked around, confused and bewildered, two young men approached him and eagerly embraced him.

"Father!" they exclaimed.

"Eddie and Willie!" The man laughed happily. "Is this indeed heaven, then?"

"It is, Father," said Eddie.

"Well, I suppose it's worth missing the end of the play, then," the man said.

"What play is that, Father?' asked Willie.

"'Our American Cousin.' Your mother and I were watching it when..." The man's eyes widened in surprise as he looked around. "I do believe I recognize quite a few of the people here." His eyes fell on Louis. "King Louis XVI of France, am I correct?"

Louis smiled. "Pleased to meet you, sir," he said, shaking the man's hand.

"I am Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States," the man told Louis. "For these past four years, I have fought to preserve the Union and to free the slaves in the Southern states. I had almost succeeded when I found myself here."

"We have watched the arrival of many of your countrymen over the past four years," Louis told Abraham. "We had hoped that the bloodshed was finally near an end, and then we saw you arrive."

"I believe that it is very near the end, and only regret that I didn't survive long enough to see a ceasefire, which I'm sure will be very soon," said Abraham. "I do hope that my dear wife and my two sons who are still alive on earth will be all right. I know that my death was a terrible blow to them. On the other hand, I'm very happy to see my other two sons, Eddie and Willie, again."

"This is my partner, Anne Boleyn, and my daughter, Marie-Therese Charlotte," said Louis.

"It's nice to meet you," Willie Lincoln told Marie-Therese. He was tall like his father, with wavy brown hair and friendly brown eyes.

"It's lovely to meet you as well," Marie-Therese told Willie. "Would you like to go for a walk? Bring your brother along as well. I know someone who'd love to meet him. Her name is Anne of Cleves, and she's almost three hundred years older than me, but we've become very good friends since I've arrived in heaven, as we have an incredible amount in common."

Louis smiled with amusement as he watched his daughter walk away with the two young Lincoln men.

"I never even imagined that my Marie-Therese might some day have an all-American soul mate," he commented.

"Yet it does seem appropriate, doesn't it?" Anne said with a smile.


	42. George Armstrong Custer

Several other skirmishes, none of them anywhere near the magnitude of the American Civil War, yet tragic nonetheless, occurred during the latter part of the nineteenth century, bringing about the periodic influx of new souls into heaven. The Austro-Prussian War occurred between June 15, 1866, and August 23, 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War started in 1870 and lasted until 1871. Napoleon III was deposed and replaced by a provisional government under General Trochu, Leon Gambetta, and Jules Favre.

"So, how does it feel to see the successor of the man who deposed you usurped himself?" Anne asked Louis.

"I take no joy in it," Louis told her. "I'm deeply grieved to see my people suffering loss, no matter what the circumstances."

"Sometimes you're honestly just too nice to believe," Anne told him.

"I know. That's why you love me so much." They both laughed.

On June 25, 1876, Louis and Anne watched as a slight blue-eyed man with longish curly blond hair and a luxurious mustache entered heaven accompanied by 264 soldiers. Abraham Lincoln greeted him warmly, while Tecumseh stood to the side glaring at him stonily.

"George Armstrong Custer! One of my finest men!" Lincoln exclaimed, embracing him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Custer replied. "I was deeply saddened by the news of your assassination, and was pleased to see that justice was quickly meted out to the perpetrators of that heinous act."

"To hate them accomplishes nothing," Lincoln admonished Custer. "As I tried to get my countrymen to understand while I was still alive, forgiveness is the first step toward healing. John Wilkes Booth is now doing heavy penance, but when he's finally released, I shall regard him just as I do all the rest of heaven's occupants. Poor Mary Surratt, however, I know to be entirely innocent, and her death was as unjust as my own. As a poor widow desperate for boarders, she had no idea that the men paying her for shelter were conspiring to kill me. I watched as they were hanging her, praying that someone would step forward in her defense, but no one ever did. She was so very distraught when she finally arrived, and I tried to comfort her as best I could. She was afraid that I would be angry at her, but I assured her that I understood her situation completely."

"This man and his soldiers slaughtered hundreds of my people," Tecumseh said coldly. "I must confess that I am not pleased to see him here."

"You must not have been listening at all when Mr. Lincoln was talking about forgiveness," Elizabeth admonished him.

"I'm sorry, darling. It's just that it's very difficult for me to think of forgiveness when the blood of the men of my people still lies spilled upon the ground, our women widows and our children orphans."

"If it makes you feel any better, myself and the men accompanying me have just suffered a crushing defeat at Little Bighorn. Their women are widows and their children orphans now as well," Custer told him.

Tecumseh was silent.

* * *

><p>On September 19, 1881, another assassinated American president, James A. Garfield, entered heaven.<p>

"Now there are two of us up here," Abraham Lincoln said upon greeting him.

"I fear that there will be even more to come," Garfield replied.

On December 15, 1890, Sioux chief Sitting Bull arrived with his head held high and a defiant gleam in his eyes.

"Here comes the man who defeated me and my men at Little Bighorn," Custer said bitterly to Louis and Anne, as Tecumseh greeted Sitting Bull as if he were a long-lost friend.

"Well, he's here now himself, so I suppose it doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Anne asked.

"I suppose not," Custer replied, but he still looked a bit peeved.


	43. Louis And Anne's 100th Anniversary

**January 21, 1893**

"Today's a very special day," Anne told Louis.

"Why, who arrives today?" asked Louis.

Anne rolled her eyes. "It's the hundredth anniversary of the first time we met, silly!" she told him.

"So it is!" Louis exclaimed. "It doesn't really seem that long, does it?"

"Not at all," Anne agreed. "It just always seems so timeless up here."

"So, my dear, how do you want to celebrate?" Louis asked with a devilish grin.

"What about that trip to Paris during peace time you promised me?" asked Anne.

"That's right, I _did_ promise that, didn't I?"

"Well...yes..."

Louis clasped Anne's hand, and a moment later, they stood right outside the Palace of Versailles. Hand in hand they walked into the palace. Louis took one look at the interior and turned pale.

_"Mon dieu," _he whispered. "My former home is now a museum."

Anne, captivated by the exhibitions, barely heard him. She was fascinated by the artifacts on display, remnants of the life of the man she loved.

"I want to see your bedroom," she said after awhile. They arrived to find that both Louis' and Marie Antoinette's bedrooms had been transformed into portrait galleries.

"These are some of my ancestors," Louis told Anne. He showed her portraits of his father and grandfather. "As you know, my father died young and never became King. I was crowned after the death of my grandfather, Louis XV. Incidentally, my grandfather was the exact opposite of me when it came to marital fidelity. He had many mistresses and illegitimate children. My grandmother knew about it and it made her very unhappy, but she was powerless to do anything about it."

"That reminds me a lot of someone I was once married to," Anne commented wryly.

"Please, let's not spoil our special day by speaking of him," said Louis.

"Consider the subject closed," said Anne.

"Interestingly, one of my predecessors, Louis XII of the House of Valois, was once married to his younger sister, Mary Tudor," Louis continued. "It is said that he literally wore himself out with effort in the attempt to conceive a son with her."

"I thought we weren't going to mention him anymore."

"I didn't. I mentioned his sister," said Louis. "Come on, there's lots more to see in Paris."

They clasped hands and were instantly at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. "It was constructed four years ago for the 1889 World's Fair," Louis told Anne.

"I've never seen anything so tall!" Anne exclaimed. Gazing all the way up to the top made her feel dizzy.

"We may as well go up the same way everyone else does." Louis took Anne's hand and walked toward the elevators. "It's more fun that way, anyway."

On the way up to the second level, Anne looked around at its other occupants, noticing how differently they were dressed from those of her own time period.

"They're tourists from England," Louis told her. "As Queen Victoria still reigns, it's a period of modesty and sensual repression."

"It sounds like a very boring time to be English," Anne commented. Louis grinned and winked at her.

"May as well have lunch while we're here," Louis said upon reaching the second floor.

"They even have a restaurant! Oh, how nice!" Anne exclaimed.

They got their food and were seated. "It's quite a unique experience to be eating in open air this high up," she continued.

"Atmosphere is everything, isn't it?" Louis agreed.

After lunch Louis asked Anne if she'd like to go to the tip-top of the Eiffel Tower.

"But the lifts don't go that high," she reminded him.

Louis laughed. "My dear, how easily you forget." He took her hand and they were both instantly at the very top of the tower, gazing down upon the city of Paris.

"It's almost exactly the same as being in heaven and looking down," Anne breathed. It was all she had time to say before Louis' lips met hers. Time seemed to stand still for them both as they were locked in a sensuous embrace. For a period of time, the only thing Anne was aware of was Louis and how wonderful it felt to be held by him at one of the highest points in the world.

When she finally became aware of her surroundings once more, she found that she was once again in heaven, still held in Louis' arms.

"I've wanted to do that with you ever since the tower was erected," Louis said softly.

"Happy anniversary!" shouted multiple voices at once. Surprised, Louis and Anne looked around to see all four of Louis' children and their mates, Elizabeth with Tecumseh and Anne's other three children and their mates, and a number of their closest friends, all smiling and cheering, surrounding a table upon which rested an enormous cake with white icing.

Moved to tears, Anne could only shake her head in wonder. "You're all so very kind," she said.

Louis cut a slice out of the cake, broke off a piece with a fork, and held it to Anne's lips. She did the same for him, and soon everyone was laughing and talking while Louis and Anne fed one another cake.

After awhile, the others left and Louis and Anne were alone together once again.

"Now for the perfect ending to the perfect day." Louis scooped Anne up into his arms, and instantly they were in the most luxurious room of the nicest motel in Paris. The mattress of the bed upon which Louis laid Anne was so soft that she felt as if she were floating on clouds. Dimly she was aware of Louis' lips caressing every inch of her body while his hands gently and deftly removed all her clothing. She felt first his fingers, then his lips, between her legs, stimulating her, and then he was on top of her and inside her, both of them moving together, then crying out in ecstasy as one as they reached mutual release. Afterward, Anne lay in Louis' arms feeling as if time and space had both ceased to exist and there was nothing else in the universe but the two of them.


	44. Albert And Victoria

A new century was ushered in on earth. Louis and Anne watched the celebrations from above, marveling at how much life on earth had changed since they'd each lived there.

The more recent arrivals they'd both befriended included Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and three of his children, Alice, Leopold, and Alfred.

"Today is the day my darling Victoria joins me," Albert told his friends on January 22, 1901.

"It shall be so nice to see Mother again," added Alice. "I haven't spoken with her in ever so long." Two of her own children, Friedrich and Marie, stood beside her.

At last Victoria appeared, looking as she had as a young woman. "Albert, my love!" she exclaimed at the sight of her husband. She ran into his arms, and they embraced passionately.

"Theirs is a true love story, one that transcends death," said Alfred, who'd only arrived a year previously himself. "From the moment they first met, they were absolutely devoted to one another. When my father died in 1861, my mother was truly heartbroken. She was in deep mourning for him for the rest of her life."

"That's very different from our story," Anne told him. "We both had unhappy marriages to other people in life, and didn't meet one another until we were both already in heaven. Since then, we've had over a hundred years to make up for lost time."

"Alice's husband Louis joined her nine years ago, but my brother and I still await the arrival of our sweethearts," Alfred told them. "In the meantime, it's just so wonderful to see our parents reunited at last."

After hugging and kissing for what seemed like forever, Albert finally asked his wife about their six children remaining on earth.

"They're all doing very well," she told him. "Victoria is the Dowager Empress of Prussia, and Edward is the new King of England, of course. Helena is married to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and they still live in England. Louise is married to John Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll, Arthur is married to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, and Beatrice is married to Prince Henry of Battenberg. We have many, many grandchildren and great grandchildren."

"Guess there's not much chance of our line dying out, then," Albert said with a laugh.

"Of course there isn't." Victoria laughed with him. Then they walked together to their heavenly abode. They had a lot of lost time to make up for, too.

* * *

><p>Anne waited a few days to give Albert and Victoria plenty of alone time, then went to introduce herself to the Queen, bringing some friends and family members along with her.<p>

"Meet my daughter, Elizabeth," she said proudly. "She was the Queen of England three hundred years before your time."

"It was a real challenge for me," Elizabeth told Victoria. "The people of England weren't used to having a female monarch. I had to prove myself to them. It took me a long time to earn their trust."

"I owe you a debt of gratitude," Victoria told her. "You paved the way for myself and all other future female monarchs."

"This is my sister, Mary," Anne continued. "She was King Henry VIII's mistress before he fell in love with me."

"He used me up and then threw me away like a worn-out shoe," Mary said bitterly. "Fortunately, I met a good man, William Stafford, who was willing to accept me, even though I already had two children. William and I had a son and daughter together, and we're with one another for eternity now."

"My name is Bessie Blount," said the woman standing beside Mary. "I was a lady in waiting for Henry's first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Henry fancied me and took me as his mistress, and I bore his bastard, Henry Fitzroy. My son died as a teenager of the sweating sickness."

"Three of my children, as well as a couple of my grandchildren, died before me as well," Victoria told her. "My daughter Alice and granddaughter Marie both died of diphtheria, and my son Leopold and grandson Friedrich both suffered from hemophilia, from which they both died. My son Alfred died last year of throat cancer."

"I never had grandchildren," said Bessie. "I've always wondered what it would have been like if my son had lived long enough to give me some."

"I had many grandchildren and great grandchildren," said Mary. "I have many living descendants on earth now, mostly in England and in the United States."

Anne and her friends and family visited with the newcomers for a bit longer, and then Anne returned to Louis. She found him relaxing in a lounge chair outside.

"Well, how did it go?" he asked her.

"It went all right," she told him. "Victoria reigned longer than any other monarch ever has before, over sixty-three years."

"That's quite impressive," Louis remarked. "Longer than I was alive on earth, even."

"Me too." Suddenly Anne felt depressed.

"But let's not talk about that right now. There are so many better things to talk about." He hugged Anne from behind and began to plant soft kisses on her neck, and her depression was instantly gone.


	45. The Titanic And The Great War

**April 15, 1912**

Louis and Anne watched as the ship hit the iceberg.

"It doesn't look to me as if there are enough life boats for all those people," Louis remarked.

His statement was quickly proven to have been correct as a mad dash for the few lifeboats available ensued. Very quickly they were filled, and their occupants sailed to safety as those left behind sank to their deaths.

One by one the souls arrived in heaven, fifteen hundred of them in all. Most looked around, lost and bewildered, as was typical of those who arrived unexpectedly.

"There was no room on the lifeboat for me," one man told Anne. "I helped my wife and children aboard and watched them sail away, knowing that I would never see them again on earth. Now my wife is a widow and my children are fatherless. They have no one to take care of them."

Anne wished she knew of something to say that would comfort him, but no words would come. She knew that life would be hard for the widows and their children.

**June 28, 1914**

The first arrivals were Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie. Their arrival sparked a cascade of reactions leading to Austria-Hungary and Germany going to war against Serbia, Russia, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

"It grieves me to see my country at war once again," Louis said.

"I feel the same way about my own country," Anne told him.

"At least this time both our countries are on the same side," Louis remarked with a grin. Anne grinned back and poked him in the side with her elbow.

The war raged on for several years, and on April 6, 1917, the United States finally entered it on the side of France, England, and their allies.

"Things are looking up for us now," Louis said.

The war continued on for another year, with many more casualties from all the different countries involved. Heaven's population swelled once again.

**April 21, 1918**

A very handsome young man wearing a German uniform arrived amongst the war casualties. He was tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, and looked to be in about his mid twenties. His eyes fell on Anne almost immediately, and he gave her a cocky smile.

"I'm Anne Boleyn," she told him. "And this is Louis XVI of France."

_"Ach mein gott!" _he exclaimed. "I'm Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, the greatest fighter pilot who ever lived. I have at least eighty air combat victories to my name."

"Well, it looks as if you must have finally met your match," Louis commented wryly.

The young man scowled. "It was a machine gunner from the ground who finally brought the great Red Baron down," he said. "He shot me in the chest, and even in tremendous pain, I was still able to bring my airplane to a safe landing," he bragged.

Throngs of heaven's female occupants practically trampled over one another in their attempt to be amongst the first to introduce themselves to Manfred.

"I've never seen quite so large a welcoming party before," Louis remarked.

"You're not jealous, are you?" asked Anne.

"Of course not," Louis lied.

"Whoa! One at a time, girls," Manfred chuckled. He was clearly accustomed to such adoration.

"I wonder which one of them will be the lucky girl," Anne said.

"I suppose he can take his pick,' Louis replied. "As for me, I wouldn't trade what I have now for the lot of them."

"Oh, you're so sweet!" Anne told him, kissing his cheek.


	46. Alexandra And The Red Baron

**July 17, 1918**

Anne saw that Queen Victoria's daughter Alice, with whom she'd become very good friends, was sobbing her heart out.

"What's wrong?" Anne's voice was filled with concern.

"My daughter Alexandra and her entire family are about to be murdered," Alice sobbed.

"I'll go with you," Anne offered, taking Alice's hand. Immediately they were in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Siberia, where Alice's frightened daughter and her family all sat facing a group of armed men.

"For crimes against the Russian people, you have been sentenced to death," said one of the men. Shots rang out immediately, and within seconds, Alexandra was staring at Alice in awe.

"Mother?" Her look of surprise quickly became one of joy. "I haven't seen you since I was six years old!"

"Welcome home, sweetheart," said Alice as she warmly embraced her daughter. A second later, Alexandra, her husband, their five children, and several of their servants arrived in heaven.

Right away, Anne saw Louis waiting to meet her with a questioning look in his eyes.

"I just couldn't let her watch them die alone," she explained.

"Of course not." Louis smiled and nodded in understanding. Then he turned to Alexandra's husband, Tsar Nicholas II. "Welcome to the club," he said wryly.

Nearby, a large group of Russian peasants who'd either starved or frozen to death stood glaring at Nicholas, who couldn't meet their eyes.

"Perhaps I deserved it, but my wife and children are completely innocent," Nicholas protested. "It isn't fair that their lives were cut short as well."

"The Almighty realizes that," Louis assured him. "They and your servants shall all be welcomed into the fold without having to do any penance."

Louis' four children had also arrived to welcome the five Romanov children. Marie-Therese and Charles shared their experiences of being imprisoned after Louis' death.

"I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to finally see Alexei healthy and strong," said Alexandra. She looked fondly at her thirteen-year-old son who stood chatting with Louis' two sons."Of all the burdens I had to bear in life, the worst one by far was knowing that I was the cause of his hemophilia."

"But it wasn't your fault," said Anne. "You couldn't help it that you carried the hemophilia gene."

"But I still felt responsible," said Alexandra. "I remember how relieved I was to have finally provided Russia with an heir. I so hoped that now the Russian people would finally accept me. Ever since I'd married Nicky, they'd hated me for being German. Then I had four daughters in a row, and that seemed to make the situation even worse."

"Wasn't Nicholas angry that you gave him so many daughters in a row without a son?" asked Anne. "Henry certainly would have been."

"Nicky was never angry at me for anything, not even the hemophilia," Alexandra replied. "He was in almost every way a loving and devoted husband."

"Almost?" Anne raised her eyebrows.

Alexandra sighed. "Nicky loved another woman at the same time he loved me," she said. "For the four years between the time we fell in love and the time we got engaged, he had an affair with a ballerina named Mathilde Kschessinska. He gave his virginity to _her, _not me."

"I'm sorry," said Anne. She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I never loved anyone but Nicky," Alexandra continued. "I was willing to wait the five years until we could be together. He wasn't." Alexandra sounded bitter.

"I suppose for some men the temptation is just too great," said Anne. She thought of Louis and how he'd saved himself for Marie Antoinette, and how she'd then cheated on him with Axel. _Life is sure ironic sometimes..._

"I don't know why he even told me about her," Alexandra said softly.

"Perhaps he just didn't want there to be any secrets between the two of you," Anne suggested.

"But why would he feel the need to tell me something that could only cause me pain?" asked Alexandra.

"I'm sure he didn't intend to cause you pain," said Anne. "People just don't always think before they speak."

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a very loud noise which Anne soon realized was the engine of the bright red airplane driven by none other than Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron himself.

"Aren't you the sister of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse?" he asked Alexandra.

"Why, yes, I am!" she told him.

"Ernie's a good friend of mine," said Manfred.

"Well..." Alexandra looked terribly embarrassed.

"You're not ashamed of being German, are you?" asked Manfred.

"No...I suppose not," Alexandra said hesitantly.

"Germany's the greatest country in the world! I'm proud to be German!" Manfred exclaimed.

Alexandra smiled for the first time since Anne had met her.

"I didn't know there were airplanes in heaven!" Anne said to Manfred.

"Sure! Why not?" Manfred grinned at Alexandra. "Hop on! I'll give you a ride!"

"I've never even been on an airplane before!" Alexandra exclaimed.

"Well, there's no time like the present, is there?" asked Manfred. Alexandra laughed and let him help her into the airplane. Louis and Anne watched them take off.

"That's one thing about heaven," Anne remarked. "Almost anything seems to go."

"They make quite a pair, don't they?" Louis agreed. He glanced over at Alexandra's children, who were still chatting happily with his own. "I'm sure he'll take each of them for a spin as well when he returns with their mother," he added.


	47. Henry's Release From Penance

"This is fun!" Alexandra exclaimed as Manfred flew her up even higher into the clouds. "In my wildest dreams I never imagined I'd someday be able to look down on _heaven."_

Manfred laughed. "Just wait until you see everything this airplane can do!"

He showed her a few tricks, and she was properly impressed.

"You must have started flying airplanes at a very young age," she said.

He nodded.

"And you never married?"

"Didn't have time." He chuckled. "Besides, too hard to narrow down the choices. So, how did you end up married to a Russian Tsar?"

"Nicky and I first met when I was twelve and he was sixteen. The next time we saw each other was when I was seventeen and he was twenty-one. It was love at first sight for both of us, or at least I _thought _it was."

"Oh." Manfred nodded in understanding and began to land his airplane. "Let me guess. You were ready to settle down, and he wasn't."

Alexandra nodded sadly.

"So how old were you when you finally got married?"

"I was twenty-two and Nicky was twenty-six."

"That's an awfully long time to have to wait for someone."

"I waited. He didn't."

"My dear girl." Manfred gave her a quick hug. "You should have married another German."

"I couldn't," Alexandra told him. "I had to marry a foreign prince. That's the way it's always been for European princesses."

"Such a shame." Manfred got out of the airplane and then helped Alexandra out. "Heaven's even lovelier than Germany, isn't it?" He took her hand and they began to stroll in a field of beautiful flowers.

"It's more beautiful than anything I've ever imagined," Alexandra agreed. "I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at all of this."

"I know I sure couldn't." Manfred, still holding Alexandra's hand, broke into a run. They separated, then came together again, until laughingly they fell down together into a pile of hay, Manfred pulling Alexandra into his lap.

"You have such beautiful eyes," he said softly as he brushed her hair back from her face.

"Thank you." She blushed slightly.

"I can't believe it." Manfred's voice was soft as he shook his head. "I simply can't believe how anyone could shoot someone as beautiful and fragile as you are down in cold blood. I guess you could say I kind of deserved what I got, but you sure didn't."

"I didn't so much mind for myself, but my poor children..." Alexandra was almost sobbing. "Alexei was only thirteen, and the girls not much older. They never even got to really experience life. Falling in love, marriage, parenthood..."

"Well, heaven's all about second chances, isn't it?" Manfred lay back in the hay with his arms around Alexandra, her head resting on his shoulder.

"It's so funny that I just met you, but already I feel like I've known you for a long time," Alexandra remarked.

Manfred laughed. "I feel very comfortable with you as well," he told her. "A lot of women are just so silly, but you're not like that at all. You're very serious."

"That was often interpreted as coldness," said Alexandra.

"I can tell you're not cold at all," Manfred told her. "You're a very caring and compassionate woman. You were a loving daughter and sister, a devoted wife and mother. You'll be richly rewarded here. I feel deeply honored to be in your presence."

Alexandra felt her cheeks burning, and she lowered her head, glancing out of the corners of her eyes at Manfred's infectious smile.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in another part of heaven, Anne and Louis stood chatting when they were approached by none other than Henry VIII himself.<p>

"So have you finally been released from your penance?" Anne asked him.

"Indeed," Henry told her. "Another has been found to take my place."

"Who is he?" asked Anne.

"Come and see," said Henry. He led her to the stables where he'd worked for so long, and in his place she saw a slender man with long, dark hair and a bushy beard. He was filthy, and his eyes looked strangely intense.

"Meet Grigori Rasputin," said Henry. "Lecher, debauchee, adulterer, alcoholic, pretender. Indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions, including the recently arrived Romanovs."

"How many of his wives did he kill?" asked Anne.

"He only married once," said Henry. "His wife is still alive on earth. He was unfaithful to her with literally thousands of women, and abandoned her to live in poverty while he led a life of comfort and ease as Alexandra's 'adviser' while her husband the Tsar was away at war. Because of him, she made some bad mistakes that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Tsardom and the triumph of the Bolsheviks."

"Well, I suppose you're awfully glad to be relieved of your duties," said Anne.

"I am very grateful," said Henry. "From now on I intend to be the epitome of peace, love, kindness, mercy, and generosity."

"We'll just see how long that lasts," Anne whispered into Louis' ear.


	48. Making Amends

Katherine of Aragon was strolling peacefully with her true soul mate, Prince Arthur Tudor, when she came upon a most unwelcome sight. Her earthly second husband, Henry VIII, was walking toward her.

"Didn't you give me enough grief while we were on earth?" she asked him. "Must you harass me here in heaven as well?"

"I didn't come here to harass you," Henry told her. "I came to apologize for all the grief I caused you while we were on earth."

"It's a little late for that, isn't it?" Katherine still sounded a bit miffed.

"I couldn't have asked for a better wife than you, Katherine. You were always faithful to me and supported me in every way. You patiently endured it as I flaunted my infidelities before you. In the end I cast you aside for another because you were no longer fertile, ignoring the fact that you'd sacrificed your own health to give me six children, three of whom were male. It was no more your fault than mine that all three of our sons died in infancy."

"I suffered just as you did at the loss of our children," Katherine replied. "Every time we had to bury a little one, it broke my heart."

"I know that," Henry said gently. "Can you ever forgive me?" He took both her hands into his own and looked pleadingly into her eyes.

"Well..." Katherine's resolve faltered as she gazed into his eyes. "You _did _do penance for many years. And this _is _heaven, after all." A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, Katherine, thank you!" Henry kissed her cheek. "I'm going to find our daughter and make my amends to her as well."

He found Mary with her own soul mate, Philip of Bavaria. "What do you want?" she asked him coolly.

"I want to apologize for all the hardships I put you through when you were young," her father told her.

Mary gasped in surprise. She'd never known her father to apologize for anything before.

"I've already been to see your mother and made my amends with her," Henry continued. "So, Mary, will you please forgive me for all the injustices I put you through?"

Mary thought for a moment, then smiled. "Very well." She took the hand her father offered her, and he kissed her hand. "Thank you, my pearl."

As he'd already spoken to Anne, the next person he went to see was Jane Seymour. He found her visiting with their son, Edward.

"Henry." Jane was startled for just a minute, then smiled. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Quite a while." He smiled.

"I saw how you mourned my passing," Jane told him. "I was very touched when you called me your one true wife and asked to be buried beside me."

"You gave me the one thing I desired above all else, and sacrificed your own life to do so." They both looked at Edward.

"You grew to be such a fine man, my son," Henry told him.

"Thank you." Edward smiled a little bashfully.

Next Henry went to find Elizabeth, whose eyes narrowed when she saw him.

"Elizabeth." He felt a bit intimidated at the sight of his proud, confident daughter.

"First, let me say how very sorry I am that I took your mother away from you when you were not yet three years of age."

Elizabeth nodded but didn't smile.

"Second, I want to tell you how proud I am of the job you did ruling England. You were every bit as worthy a ruler as any son could have been. I never would have believed that would have been possible, but you proved me wrong."

Elizabeth smiled. Just to see her father having to eat humble pie was all the gratification she needed.

Henry found Anne of Cleves playing cards with Charles Brandon, who'd also just been released from penance.

"My dear brother!" she said with a smile. "It's so nice to see you again."

"It was wrong of me to call you the Flanders mare and to judge you solely on the basis of your looks," Henry told her. "Please forgive me for that."

"I already have, long ago," Anne said generously. "Although I never married or had children, my life in England was far from unpleasant. I have you to thank for that."

With a farewell smile Henry left Anne to her card game and went in search of Katherine Howard with trepidation in his heart. At last he saw her, riding horses with Axel von Fersen, both of them laughing gaily. When Katherine saw Henry, her smile quickly vanished.

"Poor little Kitty," Henry said tenderly. "You were such a child. I expected far too much of you, then blamed you and had you put to death when you didn't meet my expectations. Can you ever forgive me?"

"I was only seventeen," Katherine said bitterly.

"I know," Henry said sorrowfully. "Because of me you never got to experience very much of life at all."

Katherine looked at the ground. "Well, I suppose I should have left Thomas Culpepper alone," she mumbled.

"Yes," Henry agreed. "But you did nothing more with him than I did many times with women to whom I wasn't married throughout all my marriages, right up until I was no longer physically able to perform the act."

"I'm so glad you finally realize that," Katherine said haughtily.

"Will you please forgive me?" Henry asked her.

"Well...all right. I suppose so. It's pretty hard to stay angry in a place as beautiful as heaven, isn't it?"

Henry smiled, and she smiled back.

Next Henry visited Katherine Parr, who was sitting in a gazebo with her daughter Mary.

"So you've finally been released from your penance, I see," Katherine said wryly.

"Indeed I have," Henry replied. "I want to thank you for making my final years on earth as tranquil and harmonious as they were."

"You're quite welcome," Katherine told him. "I hope that you find the remainder of eternity enjoyable."

Henry went to find Mark Smeaton, Thomas Cromwell, and various others whom he'd unjustly sentenced to death or otherwise wronged to make amends to them as well.

* * *

><p>The man who in life had been Tsar Nicholas II of Russia wiped the sweat from his brow. He'd never in his entire life had to perform manual labor before, and he was finding it absolutely exhausting. His back ached, his muscles were sore, and he was very thirsty. He thought about the comfort and ease he'd enjoyed when he'd lived in the Alexander Palace and felt extremely sad. He missed his comfortable daily routine, but much more than that, he missed his family. His heart ached for Sunny. He hoped that she was enjoying heaven and felt confident that she'd remain celibate until he himself arrived when his penitence was finished. After they'd fallen in love with one another but before their engagement, she'd remained chaste for five years while he'd enjoyed his dalliance with Mathilde. There was no reason to suspect that things would be any different this time, was there?<p>

* * *

><p>Alexandra giggled as Manfred von Richthofen kissed her nose. They'd just made love and were now relaxing in the afterglow of their shared experience.<p>

"You don't feel guilty about Nicky, do you?" Manfred asked.

"Well..." She wasn't really certain how she felt about that.

"You shouldn't," Manfred told her. "Did he feel guilty while he was enjoying himself with Mathilde and you were all alone in Germany?"

"Well...he _did _sound very remorseful when he told me about her."

"Of course he did. He knew that he was taking the chance that you'd reject him."

"I could _never _have rejected him. I loved him with all my heart. That's why it hurt so much."

"I can imagine," Manfred murmured sympathetically.

"He was a wonderful husband, always kind and thoughtful, gentle and affectionate. I suppose you could say he put me on a pedestal. And yet..." She paused, and Manfred waited for her to continue.

"Every time we made love, there were always questions in the back of my head," Alexandra continued. "Am I as good at this as she was? Were there things he did with her that he's never done with me? Do I please him as much as she did? Those were always questions that I could never really ask him but that always haunted me."

"Poor girl," Manfred said. "As if you didn't already have enough to worry about." He looked thoughtful. "For how long does Nicky have to do penitence on earth?"

"Three years."

"And how long did his affair with Mathilde last?"

"That lasted three years as well." Alexandra gasped with surprise. "Do you suppose that's just a coincidence?"

"Could be," Manfred mused. "Or perhaps there's more than just one type of retribution meted out in the afterlife."

"Maybe you're right," Alexandra said. Then she smiled cheekily. "Anyway, I'm certainly glad for the chance to spend time with you."

Manfred laughed and hugged her tightly.


	49. Blood Upon The Rose

**May 4, 1916  
>Kilmainham Gaol<br>Dublin, Ireland  
><strong>

"Good-bye, my love," said Grace Gifford Plunkett to her husband, Joseph Mary Plunkett. "Wait for me at the gate. I'll see you when I cross over." Grace had only been a wife for seven hours, and now she was about to become a widow.

"Good-bye, my darling," said Joseph, giving his sobbing wife one final embrace. Grace clung tightly to him until a prison guard pulled them apart roughly.

"It's time," the guard said gruffly, grabbing Joseph by the arm and pulling him away.

The sun was just now rising, turning the sky brilliant shades of pink and purple. With a pang Joseph realized that it was the last sunrise he'd ever see. The walk to the execution site seemed endless. Joseph tried hard to concentrate on Grace's smiling face, blocking all other thoughts from his mind.

At last Joseph was being strapped to a post, and a blindfold was being tied around his head. All was quiet for what seemed like hours but must have been mere seconds. Then Joseph heard the gunshots and felt a searing pain in his chest.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in a field of dazzling white. He looked about himself in wonder. Never had he seen light so bright, and yet it didn't hurt his eyes at all. A moment later he realized that he wasn't alone, that in fact, this wondrous land to which he'd just been transported was quite well populated. A very regal-looking man standing beside a beautiful brunette smiled at him.

"Welcome to heaven," the man said, extending his hand. "I'm Louis, and this is Anne."

"Joe Plunkett," Joseph mumbled, still somewhat disoriented. "So am I then to gain entrance to heaven without first passing through Purgatory?" Anne thought that Joseph's Irish brogue was absolutely charming.

"Of course," Louis assured him with a smile. "Actually, there's no such place as Purgatory. Penitence is taken care of up here or, if necessary, but a temporary return to earth."

"Are you not then of the true faith?" Joseph looked alarmed.

"I am, or rather, I was," Louis replied. "Although that doesn't matter nearly as much up here as it does on earth."

Joseph was very surprised. "But it was the true faith for which I died, that and love of my country."

"You're in good company," Louis said. "Many here have died defending their faith and/or country, including some very good friends of mine."

"And you?"

"I belong to the club of deposed and executed monarchs," Louis said sadly. "Charles I of England is here as well, and from the way things look in earth, I expect we may soon be joined by Nicholas II of Russia also."

"At least you had a country to be deposed from," Joseph said mournfully. "My beloved Ireland is still under the rule of the English Protestants. My countrymen and I shed our blood so that she may be free again."

"Ever since my own time, there's been conflict between my countrymen and yours," Anne told Joseph. "It's the fault of my husband, King Henry VIII. He's the one who broke away from your faith and established his own. I supported him in it, as that was the only way he could leave his first marriage and marry me."

"But marriage is for life," Joseph insisted. "Unfortunately, my own lasted but seven hours."

"What?" Anne was so shocked that she completely forgot the discussion about religion.

"Grace and I were sure that my mission would be a success," Joseph explained. "We planned to wed and spend the rest of our days together in a liberated Ireland. Instead, I was captured and sentenced to death. My captors allowed us to wed the night before my execution. We didn't have time to consummate our union."

"How horrid!" Anne gasped. She felt terribly sorry both for Joseph and for the widowed bride Grace.

"It's all right," said Joseph. "Some day she'll arrive as well, and then what a reunion we'll have!"

* * *

><p><strong>November 21, 1920<strong>

Fourteen men, women, and children entered heaven looking very lost and bewildered.

"We didn't do anything wrong," said one man. "All we did was go to a football game. How'd we end up here?"

"Twas the bloody police that killed ye." During the four years he'd been in heaven, Joseph Plunkett had watched as a number of his countrymen came to violent ends. "I seen 'em do it. Shot right into the crowd, they did. Didn't even watch where they were aimin'. Just out to kill."

"There's a war goin' on," the first man agreed.

"Much sufferin' and death there's been," Joseph added. "But we won't stop until our beloved Ireland is free at last."

"You have to admire that kind of determination," Louis, who'd overheard the entire conversation, said to Anne.

_A/N: I got a couple of dates mixed up, which is why some of the events in this chapter take place before those of the last three or four chapters. Sorry about the confusion._


	50. The Tree

Alexandra had been in heaven for several years when she went horseback riding with Manfred one day. It was something they'd done frequently since her arrival, as they both loved horses.

"I was a cavalryman before I started flying airplanes," Manfred told Alexandra. "I actually preferred riding horseback to flying airplanes, but when airplanes came along the cavalry kind of went out of style. Here in heaven, it's great to get back to my first love."

"Speaking of first loves, look who's coming now," said Alexandra.

In the distance, they saw the figure of Nicholas getting closer and closer as he approached. His face lit up with joy when he saw Alexandra, then quickly fell when he noticed that Manfred was with her.

"Hello, Nicky," Alexandra greeted the man who'd been her husband in life.

"Sunny?" Nicholas looked from Alexandra to Manfred. "Who's he?"

"This is Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron," Alexandra told him.

"So are you and he..." Nicholas looked devastated.

"Yes, Nicky. Manfred and I have become very good friends over the past several years."

"Sunny, how _could _you?" Nicholas' voice was filled with pain.

"You were on earth doing penance, Nicky. I got lonely over three years and needed Manfred's companionship, just as you got lonely during the three years before our engagement and needed Mathilde's companionship."

"But you forgave me for that!"

"Yes, but the pain never completely went away."

"But there was no reason for that to cause you pain," said Nicholas. "You know as well as I do that young men have to sow their wild oats while they're single so that they'll be faithful to their wives after marriage. Otherwise they'll always wonder what they missed out on."

"That's not true of _all _men," said Alexandra. "Look at my grandfather, Albert."

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't as virtuous as your grandfather was." Nicholas sounded quite peeved. "But I _did _love you, Alexandra. I still do."

"I know that, and I love you, too," Alexandra said, looking at Manfred guiltily.

"It's all right," Manfred said generously. "Go to him. You two belong together. You and I will stay friends, just as your husband and Mathilde stayed friends all those years."

"Is it really all right?"

"Yes, it really is all right." Manfred grinned and winked at Alexandra. "There's complete equality between the genders here. In heaven, women are even as physically strong as men. If you don't believe me, arm wrestle a woman sometime. I have."

"That's all right. I'll take your word for it," Nicholas said shortly. Alexandra tried to take his hand, but he refused to hold hands with her.

"How did your time on earth go?" she asked him. "Did you miss me?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of _course _I missed you." Nicholas scowled. "But you apparently didn't miss _me _very much."

"Of course I did," said Alexandra. "I simply enjoyed Manfred's company until you could be with me again, just as you enjoyed your time with Mathilde while you were waiting for me to move to Russia and marry you."

"That was different, and you know it," Nicholas said.

"How was it different?"

"We weren't married then, or even engaged yet."

"But we were in love."

Nicholas didn't respond. They were now standing near a tree. Alexandra went to take a closer look at it and cried out in surprise. "I never dreamed _that _would be here in heaven!"

"What is it?" Nicholas was so surprised that he forgot to be angry.

"Look." Alexandra pointed to a spot on the tree's trunk. "I carved our initials here with my ring the first time I met you, when I was twelve and you were sixteen. That was before Mathilde, before anything."

Nicholas gazed at the initials carved on the tree trunk, then lightly traced his finger over them. "That really hurt you, didn't it? I had no idea how much."

She nodded. He saw that there were tears in her eyes. He held out his arms, and she went into them.

"Poor, poor Sunny. You suffered so much. We both did, but you especially."

"I always thought that it was God's will for me to suffer."

"It's wrong to say that suffering is God's will and just leave it at that. Not if there's anything you can do about it. I learned that the hard way. That's why my life ended as it did, and why I had to return to earth to do penance."

"But it's over now, Nicky," said Alexandra. "You've finished your penance, and at last we're both here in heaven, together. We can make a fresh start, if you're willing."

He took her hands into his own and smiled at her. Then he put his arm around her, and they began to walk back to where the horses were.


	51. Geli

Nicholas and Alexandra spent many enjoyable hours riding horses together on Nicholas' first day in heaven. He found that, to his delight, he still possessed the excellent horsemanship skills he'd had on earth. After awhile, they dismounted from their horses and Alexandra took his hand.

"Close your eyes and think about the Alexander Palace in early 1895, when we still had our whole lives before us, before everything started to fall apart."

"But why?"

"Just do it, Nicky."

He did, and instantly they were twenty-seven and twenty-three years old and back inside their home, which looked exactly as it had a quarter of a century earlier.

Nicholas' eyes widened in wonder. "How on earth did you do _that?"_

"Manfred taught me." She winked at him. "And now it's time for what I've been waiting three years to do to you."

She knelt before him, unfastened his pants with experienced fingers, and deftly slid them down his legs. Quick as a flash, she took him into her mouth and began to pleasure him with her lips, tongue, and fingers.

"My God, Sunny! Where's you learn to do _that?" _Nicholas gasped, feeling himself about to explode into her mouth.

"Manfred." She grinned at him and moved back a bit as the hot liquid splashed across her face.

Nicholas, too weak to stand, collapsed onto the bed. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "It's been over three years for me."

"I know. It's all right." With a sly grin she climbed into bed beside him and lay propped up on one elbow looking down at him.

"Sunny, I have to tell you, what you just did to me with your tongue...well, I haven't felt anything like that since Mathilde..." He blushed a deep red and looked away.

"So, as much as the idea of Manfred and myself together bothers you, you _do _have to admit that you've benefited from it...just as I possibly benefited from your past relationship with Mathilde."

"I never thought of it quite like that before," Nicholas admitted. "Would you like...would you like for me to reciprocate?"

"I'd love that!" Alexandra parted her legs in anticipation, and Nicholas moved into position and timidly began to lick her most intimate parts. She moaned encouragingly and he became bolder, licking and sucking more enthusiastically. She was over the edge in no time.

By that time Nicholas was hard again, and they came together and made love for the first time since before their deaths. Afterwards they cuddled together and talked about their children.

"Tatiana's Dimitri Malama arrived in August of 1919. He was killed fighting the Bolsheviks," Alexandra told Nicholas. "Since his arrival, he and Tatiana have been inseparable. How I wish our other four children could find soul mates as well!"

"I'm sure they will, eventually," Nicholas assured her. "After all, there's no rush, since they have all of eternity!" They both laughed happily.

* * *

><p>While Nicholas and Alexandra were enjoying their reunion in the Alexandra Palace, Louis and Anne were having one of their many rendezvous in the Palace in Versailles.<p>

"It's amazing," Anne said as she lay cuddling in Louis' arms. "Even after more than a hundred years, our love is still just as fresh and new as when we first met."

"That's what I love about heaven," Louis agreed. In the time since he'd arrived himself, he'd noticed that, rather than being a steady trickle, the influx of souls into heaven varied widely from one time period to another. For instance, during the period between January 1918 and December 1920, over fifty million victims of the Spanish influenza entered heaven. Then, about ten years later, in late October and early November of 1929, a rash of suicides arrived, mostly from the United States.

"Will they not have to pay penance for having taken their own lives?" asked Louis.

"They were in despair over having lost everything they owned in the stock market crash," said Anne. "They were terrified of ending up homeless and starving. The Almighty will take that into account when deciding their fates."

On September 18, 1931, a very young woman arrived, alone and obviously despondent.

"You poor thing!" Anne exclaimed, rushing to hug her. "What happened?"

"I _had _to do it," the young woman told her. "It was the only way I could get away from my uncle, Adolf Hitler. I'm free of him at last."

"You're safe here," Anne told her. "No one will ever be able to hurt you again."

The young woman sobbed as she told Anne her story. "He treated me as if he owned me. He wouldn't let me go anywhere alone. He wouldn't let me have any boyfriends. I wanted to go to Vienna to take singing lessons, but he wouldn't let me. We had a huge fight about it. That's when I realized that there was only one way to get away from him."

"That's not true," said Anne as she held the young woman and comforted her. "But it's over now, and you're safe. What's your name?"

"Angela Raubal. I'm called Geli." Geli managed a small smile. "What's your name?"

"I'm Anne Boleyn."

Geli stared at her, stunned. "Henry VIII's wife? I learned about you in school."

"One of six." Anne laughed softly. "Would you like to meet some of the other Tudors?"

"Oh, yes!" Her sorrows momentarily forgotten, Geli looked excited.

"I'd be happy to introduce you to them." Anne took Geli's arm and began to lead her around heaven. Louis watched them fondly. He knew that, with Anne's help, Geli would quickly be settled and happy in her new home.


	52. New Friends For Geli

Anne spent several hours introducing Geli to first the Tudors, then various other people who'd arrived in heaven more recently. Geli soon discovered that she seemed to have a special rapport with the oldest of the five Romanov children, Olga.

"You look like you're about the same age I was when I first arrived," Olga commented upon meeting her.

"I'm twenty-three," said Geli.

"I was twenty-two when I died in July of 1918," Olga told her. "If I'd lived, I would have been twenty-three in November of that year."

"That's almost as old as me, but not quite," said Geli. "How did you die?"

"My family and I were murdered by the Bolsheviks."

Geli gasped. "That's horrible! Your whole family? Why'd they do it?"

"I suppose they wanted to make sure that none of us could ever claim the Russian throne again. They blamed my father for the suffering of the peasants, and they hated my mother because she was German. Yet my father served right along with his countrymen on the Eastern Front during the Great War, and my mother, my sister, and I volunteered in the hospitals, helping to care for wounded soldiers."

"You all must have cared for the Russian people a lot to have done those things. Yet they hated you anyway."

"The Bolsheviks are a violent people, full of hate. They envy the advantages of the wealthy and think that by taking them away they can make things better for the poor."

"My uncle hates the Bolsheviks too," said Geli. "He wants to overthrow them and take their land for Germany."

"Tell me about him," said Olga.

"He imagines himself the savior of Germany. He's angry about the outcome of the Great War and wants revenge. He also blames everything on the Jews. He thinks that if they were eliminated, the world would be a much better place."

"My grandfather blamed the Jews for the assassination of my great grandfather, Tsar Alexander II, even though only one Jewish person was involved, and all she did was offer the assassins a place to stay overnight," said Olga. "That's why he wouldn't do anything to stop the pogroms."

"Pogroms?"

"The persecution of the Jews by the Christians. They were driven from their homes and had their possessions stolen, and many of them were killed."

Geli sighed. "I fear that my uncle has even worse things in store for them, if he ever comes to power."

"Who's your new friend, Olga?" asked a masculine voice. Geli turned to look at the best looking young man she'd ever seen. He wasn't very tall, but he had light brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and blue eyes that twinkled when he smiled.

"This is Geli Raubal," Olga said by way of introduction. "Geli, this is my brother, Alexei."

At twenty-seven, Alexei remarkably resembled his father at that age. "I'm very pleased to meet you," he told Geli as he shook her hand. "When did you arrive?"

"Only today."

"I hope that your crossing over was peaceful and relatively painless."

"The only good thing I can say about it is that it was over with fairly quickly."

"Oh, dear," Alexei said softy. Geli could see the compassion in his eyes. "I'm so sorry. My own was rather traumatic as well."

"I know. Your sister told me."

Alexei reached for her hand. "Would you like to go for a walk with me? I know of a waterfall not far from here that's very beautiful."

"I'd be happy to." Geli smiled.

"I've now lived in heaven almost exactly as long as I lived on earth," Alexei commented as they walked along.

"Which was?"

"Not quite fourteen years."

"My God!" Geli was shocked. She stopped walking as her eyes filled with tears. "What kind of depraved human would murder a thirteen-year-old boy?"

"Don't feel sad for me." Alexei's voice was tender as he gently touched her arm. "My brief life on earth was filled with pain and suffering. I was born with hemophilia. Even the slightest injury could leave me bedridden for days. I nearly bled to death from a simple nosebleed once. I can't begin to tell you what a joy it's been for me to finally be healthy." He spied a tree by the side of the path they were walking along and impulsively began to climb it. Intrigued, Geli watched as he expertly made his way to the top, then grabbed a vine and swung back to the ground Tarzan-style. Geli gasped in surprise, then giggled.

"When I was alive on earth, I never would have dared to do a thing like that," Alexei told her. "There would have been far too great a risk of serious injury for me. I remember as a child watching my sister Anastasia climb trees and wishing that I could be like her. Since I've been in heaven, I've done my best to make up for lost time."

"That looked like fun," said Geli. "Maybe I'll try it."

Alexei laughed. "It _was _fun!"


	53. A Whole Different World

"I wonder," mused Anne. She was lying back on a lounge chair while Louis massaged her feet.

"What do you wonder?" he asked.

"It has now been three hundred ninety-five years and four months since I last walked the earth as a living woman," she said. "I wonder how much life has changed in my beloved England during that time."

"Would you like to find out?" Louis smiled. "We can go there right away, if you want."

They clasped hands, and within moments they were both standing on the Tower Green.

"This area was certainly named appropriately. The grass is the greenest I've seen, outside heaven, of course," Louis remarked. "It's hard to believe that it was the site of such bloodshed."

"There hasn't been an execution here for several hundred years now," Anne replied. "Let's go look around inside the St. Peter Chapel." They spent a few minutes silently gazing at the monuments, and Anne touched her fingers to the keys of the organ.

"Despite its haunting beauty, I find it difficult to stay here long, realizing that..." Louis' eyes wandered involuntarily toward the burial vaults.

"Louis, my love." Anne kissed his lips. "There are many places to go, much to be seen."

They went on a quick tour of the White Tower, the inner and outer wards, Wakefield Tower, and Traitor's Gate, then moved out into London's East End of the 1930's and a whole different world.

Paved streets were lined on either side by rows of small stores. Traffic lights were on each corner, and red telephone booths seemed to be everywhere. Red double decker buses and cars zipped past.

"These horseless carriages fly by so fast, it's as if they're on wings!" Anne exclaimed.

Louis grinned. "Would you like to ride on the top level with me?"

"Oh, that would be divine!" Anne exclaimed.

They waited until a bus came to a stop, then climbed the steps into the cab with the living passengers. Louis chuckled as he watched the mortals drop coins into the box. "There are certainly advantages to the fact that we can be neither seen nor heard," he remarked.

"It is much like flying while seated," Anne remarked when the bus was moving at its normal speed.

"It seems strange to be seated in such a large carriage surrounded by strangers a couple of centuries younger," Louis added. "It adds something of a surrealistic feel to the experience."

After changing buses several times, they eventually reached London's West End, where they noticed that the streets were cleaner, the buildings in better condition, the people dressed in more expensive clothing. The bus pulled up in front of a large department store.

"I would very much like to stop off here," said Anne. "Nothing of this sort existed in my time."

"Nor in mine," said Louis. They joined the crowds flowing through the big double doors in front.

"Oh!" Anne gasped, looking at row after row of women's clothing in various styles, sizes, and colors. Louis laughed affectionately at her delight.

"This looks just about like it would fit you exactly," he remarked, removing a long, slender red dress with short sleeves and a low-cut neckline from a rack.

Anne gasped. "But I couldn't!"

Louis laughed. "Go ahead! I'm dying to see what you look like in it."

So Anne tried the red dress on and Louis found the sight very attractive; so much so, in fact, that his pants begin to feel uncomfortably tight.

Anne noticed and chuckled. "Do you need me to relieve your discomfort?"

Louis looked flustered for just a moment. "Later," he said at last. "I want to see what you look like in some of these others first."

Anne tried on a strapless lacy white gown with a full skirt, a long, sleek black dress with a matching cloak with a fur collar, and a dress made of a shiny, silky material that was decorated with a print pattern and had an open back.

Louis was mesmerized by each one. "I suppose we'd better go, before something embarrassing happens," he said after awhile.

"They can't see us," Anne reminded him.

"I know, but still..."

As they left the department store and stepped back outside, they saw a commotion in the street.

A bus was stopped in the middle of the road, and a crowd was gathered so thickly around that at first it was impossible to tell what was going on. They moved through the crowd with ease, and were soon close enough that they could see the bus driver shaking his head vehemently. "I never saw him! I swear, I never saw him!"

Louis and Anne looked and saw a man lying broken and bleeding in the street. Blood gushed from a ruptured artery, and his eyes held a glazed look.

Suddenly the man stood and faced them, leaving his body lying motionless on the ground. "Who are you?" he asked, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"


	54. Second Thoughts

"King Louis XVI of France, and this is Anne Boleyn of England." Louis gave a generous flourish.

"And you have come to escort me to the other side? But I always thought it would be angels, not historical monarchs."

"No, actually we were on vacation. Your demise comes as as big a shock to us as it does to you." Louis looked a bit chagrined.

Anne shot him a stony glare. "We don't mind at all," she said kindly, taking the man's arm.

"Actually, it did not come as a shock to me, as I planned it," the man told them.

"What?" Anne was startled.

"The company I worked for was based in the United States," the man continued. "After the stock market crashed, it went bankrupt, and the London office has just been closed. Yesterday was my last day of work. I didn't know what else to do. There aren't any jobs anywhere else, and I had a wife and two children to support." The man was near tears.

"So who will take care of them now?" asked Anne.

"Why, I don't know." The man glanced back to see his body being loaded into the back of an ambulance. "But what difference does it make? I could no longer provide for them anyway!"

"So now they must deal with not only the loss of your income but your death as well," said Louis. "Your wife must make arrangements for your funeral and find some way to explain to your children what happened to you."

"I didn't even think about that." The man looked deeply troubled. "But I suppose it's too late to go back now, isn't it?" He watched the departing ambulance with longing in his eyes. Louis and Anne looked at him with pity.

"What am I to do, then?" The man looked completely lost.

"That's up to you," said Anne. "You may linger on the earth plane for awhile if you wish, or we'll be happy to escort you to heaven."

"I suppose He's pretty angry at me," the man said softly.

"No, not angry," Louis told him. "Only disappointed that you made such a tragic choice."

"I suppose I may as well get that inevitable confrontation over with." The man sighed deeply.

"I think you will find it not to be as greatly feared as you suppose," Anne said comfortingly.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in heaven, Alexei Romanov and Geli Raubal had become very close. They spent many hours talking together and got to know one another very well.<p>

"When I was the Tsarevich, I knew that I would have to marry a European princess," Alexei told his new friend. "If I'd married someone who wasn't royalty, I would have been stricken from the line of succession, but here in heaven, I can be with whomever I chose!"

"When I was very young, I idolized my Uncle Adolf," said Geli. "I admired his intelligence and ambition and thought that he could restore our nation to its former glory. By the time I found out what he really was, it was too late and I was already heavily involved with him." She stared at the ground, pushing clods of dirt up with her big toe. "He made me do..._things, _Alexei. Disgusting things. But he enjoyed it. It turned him on."

Alexei saw the look of revulsion on her face and didn't know what to say. He'd never even considered that such things might exist, and the idea appalled him.

"You, Alexei, are so different from him. You're so sweet, so pure..." Her eyes implored him. "Make love to me, Alexei. I want to feel close to you. When I'm with you, I forget all the horrors of my life on earth. You make me happy, Alexei, and I want to make you happy as well."

"But...where?" He glanced around uncertainly. "Not the Alexander Palace. That's where I spent my babyhood and early childhood. There are just so many memories of lying in bed weak and helpless and bleeding and in great pain." Suddenly his face brightened. "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "The Livadia Palace! It was my family's summer retreat when I was a child. I have very many happy memories there."

"Let's go there now." Geli took his hand, and instantly they were transported to the palace's most luxurious bedroom.

"Oh, it's lovely!" Geli exclaimed.

"I'm not quite sure what to do," said Alexei. "I never have before, you know."

Geli began to kiss him passionately and rub her body against his. Instantly he felt a rush of desire that nearly took his breath away.

"Come to me, my love," Geli murmured, climbing onto the bed and pulling Alexei down with her. They kissed and caressed until Alexei was so aroused that it was almost painful.

"Let me take care of that for you," said Geli, deftly unfastening and removing his pants.

The relief combined with the suddenness of the cool air hitting his bare skin made him gasp. Geli took him into her hand and lightly caressed him. He climaxed in almost no time.

Geli produced a handkerchief seemingly from nowhere and cleaned him up. Then they began to kiss and fondle one another passionately as before, while slowly disrobing. By the time they were both completely naked, Alexei was ready once more. Geli rolled him into position and slipped him inside herself, and they made love for the first time. All the pain of Geli's life on earth vanished in the arms of the man she had come to love.


	55. Lindbergh, Earhart, And Others

_A/N: Thanks to Dan Sickles for the idea of including Amelia Earhart in this chapter. :)_

Louis and Anne had barely returned to heaven with the new arrival when they encountered yet another tragic death, as twenty-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. arrived on March 1, 1932, escorted by his grandfather.

"He was kidnapped to be held for ransom," the older Lindbergh explained. "The kidnapper accidentally dropped him from a ladder and fractured his skull. He panicked and hid the body."

"That's a real shame," said Anne. "He's such a lovely little boy."

"That's all right," Grandfather Lindbergh replied. "He'll have an even happier childhood growing up here in heaven, although my heart aches for my son and his wife, who are going to be devastated when Charlie's body is found."

"It's also too bad that you aren't able to let them know what happened right away, that they must wait and find out through conventional means," Louis added. Lindbergh nodded glumly.

Two years later, on May 23, 1934, Clyde Chestnut Barrow and Bonnie Elizabeth Parker arrived in heaven.

"Well, babe, looks like our luck finally ran out," Clyde said to his lover.

"I certainly never expected to end up here, of all places," Bonnie commented, looking around in disbelief.

"She's going to find out that it's not nearly as good a deal as it seems to her now when she finds out what her penance is going to be," Louis murmured, winking at Anne.

On July 7, 1937, a Lockheed Model 10 Electra was flown into heaven by a tall, thin woman with short, light brown hair. A tall, thin man with short dark brown hair accompanied her.

"Amelia Earhart and my co-navigator, Fred Noonan," the woman said by way of introduction. "We were on our way to Howland Island and ran out of fuel and sank."

_"Guten tag!" _rang out a cheerful voice, and Louis and Anne turned to see none other than Manfred von Richthofen himself. Amelia looked at him with surprise.

"Always happy to meet a fellow aviator." Manfred grinned as he shook Amelia's hand.

"You look German," Amelia ventured.

"I _am _German, and proud of it," Manfred replied. "Let me guess. You're American, right?"

"Why, yes, I am. I'm originally from Atchison, Kansas, but my father was German."

"How long have you been flying?" asked Manfred.

"Nearly my whole life," replied Amelia. "I was a real dare devil as a child. You?"

"I started out on horseback, but switched to airplanes in about 1915," Manfred told her.

"Great! Maybe we could go horseback riding sometime," said Amelia.

"It would be my pleasure," Manfred told her.

"I still can't believe how that guy gets around," Louis muttered to Anne after they'd gone.

* * *

><p>Another world war broke out in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, and many other acts of aggression occurred over the next several months.<p>

On August 21, 1940, Leon Trotsky arrived, clutching his head and wincing in pain.

"Welcome, comrade." Trotsky looked up to see Vladimir Lenin, who'd arrived sixteen years previously, smiling and extending his hand.

Trotsky gasped in surprise. "But I thought I'd never see you again," he said. "You told me this place didn't exist."

"I've always known it existed," said a quiet voice. Both men turned to look into the cold blue eyes of the former Tsar Nicholas II.

"If you're expecting an apology, you're not going to get one," Trotsky said huffily.

"I'm not the One to whom you're going to be held accountable," Nicholas replied coolly.

Trotsky gulped. "What's he talking about?" he asked Lenin.

"You'll find out," Lenin said solemnly.


	56. Baseball In Heaven

_Thanks to Dan Sickles for the idea of including Lou Gehrig in this chapter. :)_

On June 2, 1941, a slender, dark-haired man entered heaven.

"You look like you're about the same age I was when I got here," Louis told him.

"I would have been thirty-eight in just two and a half weeks," the man replied. "I'm Lou Gehrig, first baseman for the New York Yankees."

"Louis XVI of France, and this is the woman I love, Anne Boleyn," Louis told Lou.

"But aren't you two a couple of centuries apart?" Lou asked, surprised.

"Time is meaningless up here," Anne told him. "So how did you arrive, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis," Lou replied. "I played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball and set records for the most career grand slams and most consecutive games played. Then I started getting weaker and tiring more easily. I tried to tell myself that it was just a temporary thing and that I'd soon pull through it, but it finally got so bad that I had to seek medical attention. I was shocked and devastated when the doctor told me that I had three more years to live at most. I had to retire from baseball, of course, but I took another job and worked right up until about a month ago."

"Sad that you were stricken so young," said Louis. "But at least now your suffering is over."

"I feel great now!" Lou exclaimed. "I feel like playing baseball again!"

"That sounds like a great idea," said Louis. "If I could round up enough players and you could explain the rules to us, perhaps we could do just that!"

So Louis collected various friends and relatives, including his brothers, his sons, Edward Tudor, Tecumseh, the Lincoln brothers, the Red Baron, Joseph Plunkett, and Alexei Romanov, for a heavenly game of baseball. Anne looked on and cheered for Louis when he got a home run.

* * *

><p>On the morning of December 7, 1941, Louis and Anne watched in horror as the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Over the next couple of hours, over twenty-four hundred souls entered heaven. It was one of the largest influxes at one time that the two had ever seen.<p>

"A very sad day for the United States." Louis shook his head. The country for which he'd sacrificed so much had always held a special place in his heart.

The Battle of Stalingrad happened the following year, with an even larger influx of German and Russian soldiers, who quickly fell into two separate groups upon their arrival in heaven.

"They're going to have to somehow find a way to live together up here." Louis chuckled. "Why so quiet, darling?"

"I was just wondering how the victims of the Blitz were adjusting to the afterlife," Anne replied. "Perhaps I'll go visit a few of them." The loss of over forty thousand of her countrymen to German bombs the previous year had deeply upset her. Among the dead had been some of her own relatives, the descendants of her sister, Mary. Although sad at the way they'd arrived, she'd enjoyed meeting them and introducing them to Catherine Howard and other relatives.

"Give them my best regards," said Louis.

"Will do," Anne replied, kissing him good-bye.


	57. Edith, Margot, And Anne Frank

On January 6, 1945, a slender, dark-haired woman entered heaven alone. Louis and Anne watched as she looked around, bewildered.

"Is this heaven?" she asked softly.

Louis and Anne nodded.

"I must have finally died, then."

"Were you waiting to die?" asked Anne.

The woman nodded. "I knew that it couldn't be long. I was so hungry. I knew that the food was there, but I'd promised myself that I wouldn't touch it, that I'd save it all for them."

"For whom?" asked Anne.

"My daughters, Margot and Anne. We were together until we got to Auschwitz, and for a little while after that, and then we were separated. I was saving the food for the next time I saw them."

"Were you married?" asked Louis.

"My husband's name is Otto," the woman told him. "I was separated from him as soon as we got to Auschwitz, and we never saw each other again. I was devoted to him, and although he treated me kindly, I knew that he didn't really love me. That hurt worse than anything else in the world."

Anne saw the pain in the woman's eyes and felt deep pity for her. "I know exactly how it feels to lose a man's love," she said. "My name is Anne. What's yours?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The woman smiled for the first time since her arrival. "My name is Edith Frank. I'm originally from Aachen, Germany, but Otto and I moved to Amsterdam a few years after we were married."

"It's lovely to meet you," said Louis. "Come, we'll see that you have a nice meal at last."

He and Anne took Edith to one of heaven's nicest restaurants. After arriving, they noticed a group of the Romanovs at a nearby table. Nicholas saw them and smiled and waved them over.

"You have a new arrival with you, I see," he remarked.

"This is Edith Frank," Anne told him. "She starved to death at Auschwitz."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," said Nicholas. "Welcome to heaven, Edith. You'll never go hungry again."

"Thank you." Edith blushed slightly.

"I'm Nicholas, but everyone calls me Nicky," Nicholas continued. This is my lovely wife Alexandra, my father and mother, and my Uncle Nicholas. I was named for him, although I never met him, as he died two years before I was born."

"Hello," Edith said to the elder Nicholas.

"How do you do." Nicholas gave her a friendly smile as he shook her hand. "I was only twenty-one when I arrived. I was engaged to be married to Dagmar of Denmark, but then I got spinal meningitis and died, and she married my younger brother Alexander instead."

"Didn't you feel bitter about that?" asked Edith.

"Not at all," Nicholas replied. "I wanted them to marry. It was my final request. They had a long, happy marriage, and produced six children."

"I was married for twenty years and had two daughters, but my husband didn't really love me," Edith told Nicholas.

"I suspect that he didn't know what he had," Nicholas said softy, lightly touching Edith's cheek.

Louis and Anne smiled knowingly at one another. "I expect Edith will soon find the love in heaven that she didn't have on earth," Louis commented.

"As I did," Anne added gratefully.

* * *

><p>A couple of months later, Edith's daughters arrived within a couple of days of one another. "My darlings!" Edith exclaimed, running to embrace them, then taking a step back to look at them.<p>

"Both of you," she said mournfully. "Did they gas you or starve you to death?"

"No, Mama," said Margot. "We had typhus."

"You look to be about the same ages as my youngest two great nieces, Maria and Anastasia, when they were murdered," Nicholas remarked.

"Who are you?" Margot demanded.

"This is Nicholas Romanov," Edith told her. "Not the former Tsar, but his uncle. We've become very good friends since my arrival."

"But what about Papa?" Margot looked to be near tears.

"Although we got along well, your father didn't truly love me," Edith said gently.

"I could have told you that," Anne Frank said to her sister.


	58. Iwo Jima and FDR

On February 19, 1945, a young man in a U.S. marines uniform entered heaven and introduced himself as John Basilone.

"I died in the attempt to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese," he explained. "We need the airfields for our planned invasion of the mainland." Unlike most newcomers, who were intent upon discovering the wonders of heaven, John seemed more interested in watching the events unfolding on earth.

"I can't think about anything else until I know whether or not our mission succeeds," he told Louis and Anne.

He was still watching intently on February 23, when six of his fellow marines raised the American flag on the peak of Mount Suribachi. Less than a month later, three of the men, Mike Strank, Harlon Block, and Franklin Sousley, joined John in heaven. A few days after their arrival, the Americans were successful in conquering the island of Iwo Jima. The four men rejoiced at the victory.

* * *

><p>On April 12, 1945, a sixty-three-year-old man walked into heaven. "It's so wonderful to be able to walk again after being paralyzed for twenty-four years!" he exclaimed.<p>

"How did you become paralyzed?" asked Louis, curiosity overcoming his natural shyness.

"I contracted polio on Campobello Island in 1921," the man told him. "I'm Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States."

"I'm very pleased to meet you," said Louis. "I'm Louis XVI, and this is Anne Boleyn."

"I saw my country through a depression and a war, all of it from a wheelchair," Franklin told his new acquaintances. "It was such a harsh blow to me when the doctors told me the paralysis was permanent that I refused to accept it. The worst thing about it was that I was no longer able to make love to the woman who'd captured my heart."

"Your wife?" asked Anne.

"No, her secretary, Lucy Mercer," said Franklin. "She went to work for Eleanor in 1914, and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. I wanted to divorce Eleanor and marry her, but my mother talked me out of it. I never stopped loving Lucy, and she was with me the day I died."

"You sound like just the kind of low-life creep my husband Henry was," Anne said hotly. "Maybe you deserved to end up paralyzed!"

"Anne," Louis chuckled. "You knew what Henry was like when you married him. He'd already treated Katherine exactly the same way he ended up treating you."

"I know." Anne sighed heavily. "I was blinded by lust and the greed for power, and the wish to please my father." After more than four hundred years in heaven together, Thomas and Anne Boleyn were still barely on speaking terms. "I learned my lesson the hard way."

"I don't think it's quite fair to compare me to Henry VIII," Franklin protested. "I never had anyone beheaded."

"Maybe not, but it hurts to be betrayed all the same," Louis pointed out.

"I never mistreated Eleanor in any way," Franklin added. "When my health began to fail, I asked her to move back in with me to help take care of me, and she wouldn't even do that."

"Good for her!" Anne exclaimed. "I wouldn't have either!"

Louis laughed and shook his head. Over the many years they'd been together, he'd come to regard his feisty soul mate's outbursts as amusing.


	59. Hitler's Arrival And Swift Departure

On April 30, 1945, a large portion of heaven's population gasped and shuddered as a rather ordinary-looking middle-aged couple arrived in heaven. The man had short brown hair and a funny mustache.

"Adolf Hitler!" boomed the voice of the Almighty. "How _dare _you show your face here!"

Geli Raubal buried her face in Alexei's shoulder and began to shake and sob. He held her tightly and patted her back. Edith, Margot, and Anne Frank turned away, refusing to look. Franklin Roosevelt glared coldly at the new arrival.

"I do not have to explain myself to anyone, not even to You," Adolf retorted. "Everything I did was for the sake of the Fatherland and the Aryan race. I did my best to cleanse the world of inferior races and other undesirables so that mankind could achieve a glorious kingdom of racial purity. It is not my fault that my plans did not come to fruition."

"You were directly responsible for the deaths of eleven million innocent people, not even counting war casualties," the voice of the Almighty bellowed. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"They were Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, cripples, and other undesirables," Adolf protested. "Their elimination was necessary for the establishment of the Third Reich."

"Did you never stop to consider that I created them just as I created you? That they all had hopes and dreams, plans and desires just like you?"

Adolf glared silently.

"Adolf Hitler, I have made my decision concerning your fate," the Almighty continued. Only now did Adolf's eyes show the slightest hint of fear.

"You shall be reincarnated on earth as a Jew..." Adolf began to shake his head vehemently.

"...six million times," the Almighty continued. "Once for every one of my children belonging to that religion whom you had slaughtered. After that, you can begin to pay your penance for all the other innocent lives you destroyed."

"No! _No!" _Adolf screamed, pulling at his hair. "Anything but that! Noooo..." As he vanished from sight, his voice faded until it was just an echo.

Next the Almighty turned His attention to the woman who'd accompanied Adolf.

"Eva Braun," He began. "Although you lacked your husband's illogical hatred and total disregard for humanity, you stood by him and supported his every decision. For that reason, your punishment will be severe."

Eva began to cry.

"You shall meet with every single one of those eleven million souls and hear his or her story," the Almighty continued. "Only then will you be able to truly grasp the suffering caused by the man you loved and his minions. I believe it will give you serious second thoughts about the views you held in life."

Eva looked relieved.

The Almighty summoned the Franks. "I think I'll start with you three," He told them.

* * *

><p>Alexei saw that although her uncle was no longer there, Geli still sobbed and trembled.<p>

"It's all over now. He's gone," he said soothingly.

"I know," Geli sniffled. "But now he's going to be reborn on earth _six million times. _I can't bear to think of all the people he's going to victimize during all that time."

"I suspect he'll be on the receiving rather than the giving end of the persecution during all six million of those lifetimes." Alexei chuckled. "That's how karma works. It's the whole reason he's being sent back."

Geli shuddered. "That's almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. Almost, but not quite."

Alexei laughed and took her hand. "Come on, let's go sky diving. My mother's just now gotten to the point that she can bear to watch me do that."


	60. A New Family For Louis And Anne

"My, what a show that was," Louis said to Anne. Standing on the sidelines, the two of them had witnessed the entire episode.

"It isn't often at all that the Almighty Himself intervenes at the arrival of a new soul," Anne agreed. "In four hundred years I've only seen it happen once or twice before."

"It's not every day that you meet someone who had over eleven million people killed," Louis pointed out.

"This is something I never thought I'd say about anyone, but that Hitler fellow made Henry look like a saint by comparison," Anne replied.

"I think he made pretty much everyone look like a saint by comparison," said Louis. "If this is the kind of man the twentieth century produces, I think I'm going to view all future new arrivals with a bit of apprehension."

The following day, Louis and Anne witnessed a very sad scene. Six children, five girls and a boy, arrived in heaven together. The oldest, who looked to be about twelve, led the others, who were all holding hands with each other.

"Is this Berchtesgaden?" asked the youngest little girl, who looked to be about four.

"I don't think so," replied the next-to-youngest child.

"We're the Goebbels," the oldest girl told Louis and Anne. "I'm Helga, and this is Hilde, Helmut, Holdine, Hedwig, and Heidrun."

"Welcome," said Anne. "I'm Anne Boleyn, and this is Louis XVI."

The six children exchanged meaningful glances.

"So we're dead, then," Helmut concluded.

"Our mother forced a capsule of poison into my mouth," Helga told Louis and Anne. "I knew what it was, and I tried to fight against it, but she was too strong for me."

"Your own mother. I can't believe it," Anne said sorrowfully. "I would have given up my own life without hesitation for my Elizabeth."

"She didn't want us to live in a world in which the Third Reich had failed," Helga explained. "I wanted to live no matter which side won, but she wouldn't allow it."

"It was cruel and heartless for her to take your lives from you." Louis' eyes were filled with tears. "You were completely innocent and didn't deserve to die, regardless of the motive. Two of my own children preceded me in death, and each time was the most heartbreaking thing I had ever been through. If I could have given my own life to save either of theirs, I would have."

"I sure do wish I could have been your little girl," said Hedwig.

"Me too!" Heidrun agreed.

"My own children have been grown up for a long time now," Louis told them. "I had planned to take you all to heaven's orphanage, which by the way is lovely, totally different from those on earth, but on second thought, perhaps you six would prefer to stay with Anne and myself."

"Oh, yes!" Hilde exclaimed, and her siblings quickly nodded in agreement.

"So you and I shall have a family together after all, Louis." Anne's eyes shone with happiness.

"It's been such a long time since I had a little one to look after that I hardly know where to begin," Louis replied.

"I'm sure it will come to us naturally, just as it did the first time around," Anne assured him.

Louis gave little Heidrun a piggyback ride on his shoulders as they headed for a nearby park.

* * *

><p>"Are you all right?" Nicholas Romanov, the Tsar's uncle, asked his soul mate, Edith Frank.<p>

"I suppose so, considering that I just finished talking with a woman I never even wanted to meet, much less tell my life story too." Edith sighed heavily. "If I thought it would do anything at all to prevent a similar thing happening again on earth, I'd go through it a million times, but she seemed almost totally unmoved by everything I told her."

"I expect her resolve will be worn down by the time she's heard a few hundred stories like yours, and by the first million, she's probably going to be wishing that she could trade places with one of them," Nicholas replied. "Come here, sweetheart, and let me put a smile on your face."

She went to him, and he began to kiss her. As his lips softly caressed her neck and gradually moved to her collarbone, she began to tingle with desire. As he gently laid her on the bed and began to remove her clothing, all thoughts of Eva Braun quickly vanished, and as his lips continued to move lower and lower on her body, the only thing on her mind was how good he was making her feel.


	61. Worth The Wait

""This is where you'll be attending school," Louis told his newly adopted children. They stood before a large building that was shining with perfection and splendor. It had several stories and had been built on a beautiful grassy knoll with gently rolling hills and several shade trees.

"You mean even in heaven I still have to go to school?" Helmut grimaced.

"You'll like this school," Anne told him. "Here you only have to take subjects you enjoy, and there are lots of fun projects to do and everyone is always very kind. Nobody ever loses their patience, and there are no bullies to worry about."

"Best of all are the history lessons," Louis put in. "Instead of just reading about events in a book or hearing about them, you actually visit earth at the time they occurred and see them happening."

"You mean all those wars and all? That sounds like fun!" Helmut's eyes twinkled excitedly.

"Generations of heavenly schoolchildren have watched me lose my head over and over again," Anne remarked dryly.

"Me too." Louis smiled sympathetically.

"I'm several grades ahead of you, so I'll help you all I can." Helga turned to see who had just spoken to her, and to her utter shock she saw that it was Anne Frank.

"You know who my parents were, don't you?" Helga asked Anne.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter," Anne told her. "You had no control over that."

Helga smiled gratefully as Anne took her arm. "I think we're going to be the best of friends," the older girl continued.

Anne Frank received a surprise herself several days later when Peter van Pels, the boy she'd loved on earth, arrived in heaven.

"Anne!" he exclaimed excitedly, running to embrace her.

"I can't really say that I'm happy to see you, as I always secretly hoped you'd escape and survive," Anne told him.

"It doesn't matter now," Peter said with a smile. "We're together again for all of eternity, and we'll never have to hide from anyone again."

"My mother has met someone who makes her happy as well," said Anne. "I only wish there was someone for my sister."

"She may just have to be patient for awhile," Anne Boleyn, who'd overheard the conversation, said. "I had to wait for over two hundred years before I met my eternal soul mate, but when I finally found him, he was more than worth it."

"Oh, you're so sweet!" Louis blushed furiously.

* * *

><p>Helga Goebbels was in a somber mood as she returned from a field trip with her history class one day. The class had just witnessed the massacre of the Romanovs, and although she knew that they were all now healthy and alive and happy in heaven, seeing the violent, bloody end of their lives on earth had shaken her.<p>

"What's wrong?"

Helga turned to see a tall, handsome boy smiling at her. At fifteen, Charlie Lindbergh bore a striking resemblance to his father.

"I just watched the Romanovs being murdered," Helga told him. "It reminded me so much of my own death, and that of my brother and sisters, except that in the case of the Romanovs, at least it wasn't their own parents who killed them."

"I'm so sorry."

Helga wondered if he could tell how attractive she thought he was. "You obviously died at a very young age as well."

"I was twenty months old," Charlie told her. "The man who was kidnapping me accidentally dropped me on my head from a ladder outside a second story window."

"How horrid!" Helga gasped.

"It's all right." Charlie smiled. "I was too young to remember it, really."

"So you never really knew what it was like to live on earth."

"I can visit any time I like," Charlie told her. "Lots of times I go back just to watch what my parents and younger brothers and sisters are all doing. Sometimes, like when I'm sitting at the table with them during a meal, I almost feel like I'm one of them and even forget that they can't see or hear me."

"Doesn't it make you feel lonely that they're all still alive on earth and you're the only one in heaven?"

"I never really thought of it that way," Charlie replied. "Sometimes I see my mother when she's alone and she looks really sad and I know she's thinking about me, and I really wish that there was some way I could tell her that I'm alive and happy here."

"It's really hard for me not to feel angry at my mother," said Helga. "Even though she and my father are paying penance for what they did to me and my brother and sisters and all the other horrible things they did, I still feel bitter when I think about what our lives on earth might have been like if they'd let us live."

"Sometimes I wonder what my life on earth would have been like too," Charlie said. "Perhaps I would have been an aviator, like my father."

"There are airplanes up here too. I've seen them."

"I know. I've seen them too, but it's still not quite the same."

"You wish you could make your parents proud of you."

"Exactly!"

"Well, just think about how happy they'll be to see you again when they arrive here themselves."

"I know. But it seems an awfully long time to wait." Suddenly he smiled. "You seem very nice. Perhaps we could do something together sometime."

Helga smiled back at him. "I think I'd like that very much!"

* * *

><p>"Well, it looks like Helga's made a new friend," Anne Boleyn said to Louis as they watched Helga and Charlie happily riding away on horseback.<p>

"She'll soon be an adult and on her own." Louis smiled and pulled Anne close to himself. "It's good for her to have friends outside the family."

Anne glanced at the five younger children, who were happily involved in a ball game. "I so wanted to have a large family like this with Henry."

"Sometimes you have to wait until you get to heaven to get what you really want," Louis replied. "But when you finally get it, it's worth the wait."

Anne murmured her agreement as she rested her head on his shoulder. She appreciated the fact that he was just the right height for her to do that.


	62. Hiroshima and Nagasaki

"Can I call you Mama?" Heidrun asked Anne one day.

"Of course you can," Anne replied. "I'd be honored."

Heidrun smiled shyly, then looked serious. "What happened to my other Mama and Papa?"

"They can't come to heaven yet because they did too many bad things when they were still alive on earth. They have to pay for all those first."

"Were you a little girl when you first came to heaven, too?"

"No, I was already a grown-up woman." Anne had to swallow a lump in her throat.

"Did somebody kill you too?"

"Yes." Anne's voice was barely a whisper.

"But why would anybody want to kill a nice lady like you?"

"My husband was angry because I couldn't give him a son, and there was another woman he wanted to marry, so he accused me of some things I didn't do, and because of that, my head was cut off."

Heidrun gasped. "That's terrible!"

"It's all right, sweetie. I have a wonderful life in heaven now with all my friends and loved ones."

"And what about my new Papa? Was he killed too?"

"Yes, he was. He was the ruler of France a couple hundred years ago, and some people didn't like the way the country was being run, so they took over and had your Papa killed."

"And now they're up here too."

"Many of them are, yes."

"But they were bad because they killed my new Papa, so how come they got to come to heaven?"

"It's kind of hard to explain, Heidrun. Some people honestly think they're doing the right thing by killing someone else, that by doing so, they are getting rid of an even larger evil."

"Was that what your other husband thought when he had you killed?"

"In his case, it was more of a personal reason."

"Oh." Heidrun looked thoughtful. "I like heaven. Everything's so pretty, and you can go wherever you want and not have to be afraid of anyone."

"Who were you afraid of on earth, Heidrun?" Anne was suddenly concerned.

"Russians. There were so many of them, and they were so noisy and scary. We had to hide from them underground, and we had to stay inside all the time and could never go out, because if we did, the Russians would get us." Heidrun made a face. "I _hate _Russians."

"Oh, Heidrun, you don't have to be afraid of Russians anymore." Anne hugged the little girl tightly. "What was happening on earth was a war, but you're not there anymore. You're in heaven now, and there are Russians up here too, but they're all perfectly nice. You know the Romanovs. They're Russians."

"Oh, yeah." Heidrun grinned. "I forgot about them."

* * *

><p>On August 6 of that same year, more than 90,000 Japanese souls entered heaven, and on August 9, over 60,000 more arrived. To Louis and Anne, the vast majority of them just looked like ordinary people. Both groups were roughly half male and half female, and all age groups, from newborn to very elderly, were equally represented. All looked very confused and bewildered.<p>

"Only a natural disaster of astronomic proportions could have caused such a devastating loss of life at one time," Louis observed.

"Or atomic bombs," said a nearby voice. They turned to see Franklin D. Roosevelt looking on with them.

"It had to be done," Franklin continued. "It was the only way to bring the war to an end."

"But look at all these children!" Anne exclaimed.

"Look how many children from allied countries _they _killed," Franklin pointed out.

"You know that those who are truly innocent will be dealt with fairly," Louis gently told Anne.

"I know." Anne watched as the Goebbels children and other recent arrivals mingled amongst the Japanese, looking for new playmates. Heidrun took the hand of a Japanese boy who was about her age and ran with him toward the park. Louis smiled and embraced Anne as they both looked on happily.


	63. Baseball In Heaven Part II

_A/N: Thanks to Dan Sickles for the suggestion to include Babe Ruth in this story._

On August 16, 1948, Anne and Louis watched as a dark-haired, dark-eyed, rather sad-looking man strolled slowly into heaven. Out of the corner of his eye, Louis saw Lou Gehrig run up to the newcomer and give him a big hug.

"It's so great to see you again, buddy!" Lou exclaimed happily.

Seconds behind Lou, a woman who was seething with rage stalked up to the newcomer. "What are _you_ doing here, you lying, cheating, worthless son of a bitch!" she exploded as she began to pummel the man with her fists.

"Hey, calm down!" Lou grabbed the woman's arms. "He just _died, _for Christ's sake!"

"It's about time!" the woman sneered.

"Please," said Lou.

"She has every right to be angry," the newcomer said calmly. "I _did _really pull a number on her."

"I'll _say _he did!" the woman stormed.

"What's the problem, my friend?" Louis asked Lou.

"My dear friend Babe Ruth here has finally arrived, and his wife Helen wouldn't even give him a chance to get settled before ripping right into him!" Lou told the former monarch.

"I suspect it was with good cause, was it not?" Anne asked Helen Ruth.

"Yes, it was!" Helen exclaimed. "First he cheated on me, and then he tricked me into raising his love child as my own!"

Louis gave a low whistle.

"But how did that happen?" Anne asked Helen.

"I was never able to have a baby," Helen began. "Then one day after we'd been married seven years, Babe told me that he knew of a little girl we could adopt. Dorothy was an adorable baby, and I fell in love with her right away. It wasn't until I got to heaven that I learned the truth, that she was really Babe's biological daughter by his mistress."

"And you've hated her since then." Babe Ruth himself finally spoke. "She was just an innocent child, and you hate her!"

"If I'd known of her true origins, I never would have agreed to adopt her," Helen countered.

"How did you find that out?"

"I knew it as soon as I arrived here after the fire," Helen told the man who'd been her husband in life. "As soon as you arrive in heaven, everything's crystal clear to you. She's always looked so much like you that I should have figured it out while I was still alive on earth."

"Well, I never told her either," Babe said. "To this day she still believes you're her biological mother, and when she arrives here, I hope you'll show her the same love you always showed her in life. If you're going to take it out on anyone, take it out on me, not her."

"You _do _realize that you're going to have to do penance for what you did to me," Helen reminded him.

"Before that has to start, I hope we have time for just one quick baseball game first," Lou said.

"We'd better have!" Babe exclaimed.

Louis laughed. "I'll get all my friends together again." Anne glared at him. He grinned at her and swatted her behind.

* * *

><p>Peter van Pels and Anne Frank were strolling together in one of heaven's most beautiful gardens when Louis approached them.<p>

"How would you like to play some baseball?" he asked Peter.

"Really?" Peter was thrilled.

"Sure," Louis told him. "Lou Gehrig's friend Babe Ruth just arrived. I was just about to find Charlie Lindbergh and round up the rest of the guys for another game."

"Charlie's with Helga." Peter nodded in their direction. "I'll go fetch him."

In the crowd gathering to watch the game, Anne noticed Ethel and Margot Frank sitting with a distinguished-looking man and an attractive, dark-haired woman.

"This is Caspar Ten Boom and his daughter Betsie," Ethel said with a smile. "They've both been here for several years now. I never met them while I was alive on earth, but they sheltered many of my people from the Nazis during the war. So many more of them would have perished if not for them. We'll always be grateful to Caspar and Betsie and their daughter and sister Corrie, who's still alive on earth."

"The Gestapo arrested us on February 28, 1944," Caspar told Anne. "Because of my age, they offered to allow me to return home, but I told them that I would continue to shelter Jews, so they wouldn't release me. My daughter and I both died in prison soon afterwards."

"Betsie and I have become very good friends," Margot added. "Even though she was born more than forty years before me, and we're different religions, we've found that we have an amazing amount in common."

"I suffered from pernicious anemia for my entire life," Betsie told Anne. "Because of that, I wasn't able to marry. Now that I'm perfectly healthy here in heaven, I'm hoping that I'll someday find love."

"I'm sure you will," Anne told her. "Wow, look! Louis just scored a home run!"

They all cheered enthusiastically.


	64. Evita

The next four years passed quietly and pleasantly for Louis and Anne and their new family in heaven. On earth a new decade began, which was barely noticed by heaven's busy occupants. In 1952, Helga was twenty, Hildegaard eighteen, Helmut seventeen, Holdine fifteen, Hedwig fourteen, and Heidrun twelve.

One day Helga was strolling beside the river with Charlie Lindbergh, who at twenty-two had grown to be a tall, handsome man.

"It's a bit warm, don't you think?" asked Helga. The weather in heaven was actually perfect all the time, but the young woman wanted an excuse to go swimming.

"Would you like to go swimming?" asked Charlie. "I'll go back and get my suit."

"My mom and dad don't even wear swimsuits," Helga remarked.

Charlie laughed nervously. "I've never gone swimming without one before."

Helga batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously. "Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?"

Charlie's eyes grew big, but he didn't say a thing. Fascinated, he watched as Helga began to shed her clothing. When she was almost done, he had to gasp at the sight that met his eyes. She had curves in all the right places, and her breasts were lovely, with nipples the color of coffee. Almost involuntarily, Charlie reached to touch one, and she did nothing to stop him.

Suddenly his pants were uncomfortably tight. Helga noticed the bulge and lightly brushed her hand over it, which made the situation even worse. For Charlie it was sweet relief when she suddenly unfastened his pants and tugged them down.

"Oh!" she gasped at her first sight of his rigid manhood. All thoughts of going swimming immediately left her mind. "Shall we go somewhere private?" she asked Charlie.

"Where?" he wanted to know.

"Where would you most like to be?" she asked.

"I've always thought a little cabin in the mountains might be romantic," Charlie suggested. They held hands and closed their eyes, and instantly they were there.

"Wow! Here's the bear skin rug by the fireplace, just as I imagined it!" Charlie exclaimed.

"I think the big four-poster bed in the bedroom might be more comfortable." Helga's voice was sultry as she took his hand and led him there.

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed in delight at the sight of the down quilt covering the bed. Quickly they slipped underneath it next to the cool, velvety sheets.

Making love for the first time is never uncomfortable in heaven, so Helga felt nothing but ecstasy as Charlie entered her and they began to move together.

* * *

><p>On July 26 of that year, Louis and Anne watched as a slender, dark-haired woman entered heaven. "You look a bit familiar," she said to Anne.<p>

"I'm Anne Boleyn of sixteenth century England," Anne told her. "And this is Louis XVI of France."

"Oh, of course!" the woman exclaimed. "I didn't recognize him without the wig. I'm Eva Peron of Argentina, but you can call me Evita. Everyone does."

"It's lovely to meet you," said Anne, shaking Evita's hand.

"Likewise," added Louis. Then he frowned. "You look rather young."

"I'm thirty-three," Evita told him. "But I feel like I'm about ninety. I'm ever so tired. I've worked so hard for so long to bring justice to the poor people of my country and to get voting rights for women."

"That would have been unheard of in my time," said Anne.

"And in mine as well," Louis added. "Although it's been the case for women in the U.S.A. and the U.K. for several decades now."

"We Latin Americans are a bit behind those countries in that regard," Evita explained. "Although my darling Juan in an exception, many Latin men consider it proof of their masculinity to dominate their women, sometimes even to the point of being abusive."

"It isn't only Latin men who act that way." Anne's voice held a definite edge.

"Never mind, sweetheart. That's all behind you now," Louis said, squeezing her hand.

"You two do look very sweet together," Evita said with a smile.

"Thank you." Anne smiled back. "We've been together ever since he arrived in 1793."

"My goodness! That's a long time to be together," Evita commented.

"To me it seems like only yesterday," said Louis.

"I know that my dear Juan is mourning me," Evita said. "But he is still fairly young, and I'm sure he'll probably marry again."

"That's all right," said Anne. "If he's truly your soul mate, you two will be reunited upon his death."

"In the meantime, you have plenty of opportunity for rest here. After all your hard work on earth, I know you need it," Louis said sympathetically.


	65. An Unjust Execution

On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin entered heaven and was immediately confronted by his second wife Nadezhda and his son Yakov.

"You do not belong here," Nadezhda said coldly. "You are a cold, heartless, cruel man."

"Who are all those people with you?' asked Stalin.

"They are the victims of purges and famines," Yakov told his father. "Ten million in all. They died in Gulags, or were executed, or starved to death. You have a lot of atoning to do."

The Almighty agreed, and Joseph Stalin was quickly sent back to earth to do many years of penance alongside Lenin and Trotsky, although his penance would be more severe than theirs, as he had been the direct cause of more suffering and death.

"My own father." Yakov turned mournful eyes toward Louis, who along with Anne had witnessed the entire episode. "My own father, and he just left me to die. He could have saved me, but he wouldn't."

"I'm sorry." Louis shook his head in sympathy. He didn't know what else to say.

Several months later, an ordinary-looking middle-aged couple arrived. "I'm Julius Rosenberg," the man told Louis and Anne. "And this is my wife, Ethel. We were both executed, just like you were, except that in our case, it was by electric chair. My poor wife had to be zapped twice before she was finally dead."

"It was a _hideous _experience." Ethel rolled her eyes.

"But you look like such nice people," Anne remarked.

"Neither of us ever laid a hand on anyone," Ethel told her.

"Then why were you executed?" asked Louis.

"For being Communists, pure and simple," Julius replied. "It's true that I did supply the Soviets with information about making bombs, but my wife was not nearly as involved as I was. It wasn't fair that they killed her too."

"My own brother testified against me to save his own skin," Ethel said bitterly. "I hope he rots in hell."

"I'm sure he'll get what's coming to him, sooner or later," Anne said. "Everyone else has so far."

"Let us show you around," Louis offered. "I'm sure you'll feel much better when you see how beautiful it is up here."

"That type of thing isn't exactly what you'd expect from a civilized country in the twentieth century, is it?" Anne asked Louis later.

"When you take into account how great their fear of Communism is, it's not really so very surprising," Louis replied.

The Franks and many other Holocaust victims welcomed the Rosenbergs warmly, and soon Julius and Ethel were content in their new home.

* * *

><p>On August 6 of the following year, Louis and Anne watched as a petite, dark-haired girl who couldn't have been more than twenty years old entered heaven looking very frightened and alone. Right away Anne went to her and hugged her warmly.<p>

"Welcome," she said. "I'm Anne Boleyn, and this is Louis."

"I'm Emilie." The girl's voice was barely a whisper. "I must have had another seizure. I've been having them since I was nine."

"You poor thing!" Anne exclaimed.

"I would have been all right if someone had been with me to keep me from choking, but I was all alone," Emilie continued.

"Well, it's all right now." Anne gave her another quick hug.

"I'm going to miss my sisters." Emilie sounded very sad. "For our whole lives, the five of us were always together. I can't imagine being apart from them."

"You'll make many new friends here," Anne assured her. "And you can return to earth to visit your loved ones there any time you want."

"You don't understand," Emilie replied. "From the time we were born it was always just us. We were the world's first surviving quintuplets. Until we were nine, we were kept in a nursery where people could come and look at us as if we were circus freaks. When we were nine they finally let us go home to live with our family, but by that time it was too late. None of us were ever really close to any of our other family members. But we always had each other. Now I'm here, so there's only the four of them left." Emilie began to sob quietly. Anne held her and comforted her.

"You can go back to visit them any time you like," she comforted the newcomer.

"But they won't be able to see me, so they won't know I'm there."

"They still have each other for comfort, and you'll all be reunited eventually," Anne replied. "When you've been here as long as I have, fifty years or so seems like no time at all."

Emilie smiled for the first time since her arrival.

"Come meet my daughter Hildegarde," Anne continued. "You look like you're just about exactly her age."


	66. Rock And Roll In Heaven

Another year passed on earth, and then on September 30, 1955, a very nice looking young man strolled into heaven. Many of the same young women who'd eagerly watched the arrival of the Red Baron looked on curiously. Manfred himself smiled as he greeted the newcomer and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I watched you race. You were pretty good."

"Apparently not good enough," James Dean replied gloomily.

"Happens to the best of us," Manfred said consolingly. "At least there's no danger of anything like that happening up here."

"Are there really race cars up here!" James was suddenly excited.

"You bet!"

"I know those two are going to become very good friends," Louis remarked to Anne as they watched the two young men walk away together.

"They do seem to have quite a bit in common," Anne replied.

A year and a half later, on February 10, 1957, Laura Ingalls Wilder arrived to a huge welcoming party consisting of her parents, Charles and Caroline, her sisters Mary, Carrie, and Grace, her brother Freddie, and her husband, Almanzo.

"I can see again now!" Mary Ingalls exclaimed joyfully to her sister.

"That's wonderful!" Laura cried. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm healthy now too!" Carrie added.

"I'm so glad to hear that," said Laura. "I always worried so much about you. And look what a fine young man you turned out to be," she added to Freddie, who'd died when he was only a few months old.

"I missed you so much, darling!" Almanzo said as he embraced his wife.

"And I, you," Laura told him. The two of them walked away from the rest of the group, undoubtedly to find a place where they could be alone, Anne told herself with a smile.

"I do so love to see happy family reunions," she told Louis.

"So do I," Louis agreed.

Two years later, on February 3, 1959, four young men arrived in heaven, looking quite stunned and disoriented. The youngest was no older than eighteen at the most. "What happened?" he asked the others.

"I think the airplane must have crashed," one of his companions replied.

"I couldn't see where I was going," another added. "It was snowing too hard."

"I want to go back!" The youngest of the four had a look of horror on his face. "I'm only seventeen! I'm too young to die!"

The others only looked at him with pity in their eyes, not saying a word.

"How are they going to tell my mother?" the young man continued.

"How are they going to tell my wife?" another of the four countered. "She's pregnant. I don't know what the shock will do to her."

"My wife is pregnant too," said another of the young men.

"What happened to you folks?" asked Louis.

"We're musicians," explained one of the four, a slender man with curly hair and eyeglasses. "We'd just performed at the Surf Ballroom in Iowa, and we were on our way to Minnesota but ended up here instead. I'm Buddy Holly, and the others are J.P. Richardson, Ritchie Valens, and our pilot, Roger Peterson."

"What kind of music do you perform?" asked Anne.

"Rock and roll," Buddy told her.

"It's a relatively new sound," J.P., more commonly known as the Big Bopper, explained when he saw the blank look on Anne's face. "It has elements from various other forms of music such as folk and rhythm and blues."

"Will you sing something for us, please?" Anne asked eagerly.

"Of course!" The Big Bopper grinned at her, then played and sang 'Chantilly Lace.'

"That was amazing!" Anne said, clapping her hands, when he'd finished. "More, please!"

Buddy Holly was next, playing and singing 'Every Day', 'True Love Ways', 'Oh Boy', and 'Words Of Love' for his heavenly audience. Next, Ritchie Valens played and sang 'La Bamba' and 'Oh Donna.'

Anne heard a squeal of delight when Ritchie had finished playing and, to her surprise, saw her youngest adopted daughter, Heidrun, run up to the handsome young man and give him a kiss on the cheek. He grinned bashfully, his despair over what had just happened to him already forgotten.

"It is certainly very different from any kind of music I've ever heard before," Louis remarked. "Yet something about it appeals to me."

"I really like it a lot!" Anne exclaimed. "It makes me want to jump up and dance!"

"I have a feeling we'll be hearing more and more of it from now on," Louis chuckled.


	67. A Little Bit Country

On November 16, 1960, handsome American actor Clark Gable strolled into heaven, much to the delight of a throng of female admirers. Eight days later, Princess Olga, the last of Tsar Nicholas II's surviving siblings, entered heaven and was greeted warmly by her large family.

On August 5, 1962, a beautiful blonde arrived, looking very sorrowful and with a tragic air about her. "So this is heaven," was all she said.

"You don't sound very pleased," Anne remarked.

The woman sighed. "I sure hope it's better than my life on earth was."

"Oh, dear!" Anne exclaimed. "You look like you're just about the same age I was when I arrived."

"I'm thirty-six," the woman replied. "My name is Marilyn Monroe."

"You look much too beautiful to have lived a hard life," Louis commented.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Marilyn told him. "As a child, I was shuffled around from foster home to foster home. I never knew what it was like to have a stable home life. As an adult I went from husband to husband, lover to lover, and none of them ever made me very happy. Even the Kennedys, John and Robert. Oh, they were both excellent in bed, no doubt about that. But they had their homes, their families, their lives. Someone like me would never fit in with all that."

"Was that why you...wanted to end it all?" asked Anne.

"I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again," Marilyn told her. "I just wanted the pain to end."

"You'll be safe here," said Louis. "But He frowns upon arriving here of your own volition. As the giver of life, He sees it as an act of extreme ingratitude."

"Leave her alone." Louis turned to see who had spoken and noticed that it was Geli Raubal. "I know exactly how she feels. I know what it's like to be in such pain that it seems there's only one way out."

"I didn't mean to sound unkind," Louis said apologetically. "But to those of us whose lives were taken from us against our will, it does seem somewhat ironic."

"I'm just your age," Margot Frank said to Marilyn. "My mother, sister and I have been here for seventeen years. Come on, let us show you around."

Marilyn smiled for the first time since her arrival.

On November 7 of that year, Eleanor Roosevelt arrived. Her husband Franklin was there to meet her.

"You can walk again," she observed. "That's good."

"Listen, Eleanor, I know I wasn't the best husband in the world," Franklin replied. "But since we're here together in this lovely place, don't you think it would be nice if we could be friends?"

"I'm willing to make the effort, if you are," Eleanor told him. He smiled and reached for her hand, and they strolled away together.

"It's been entirely too long since you and I went for a stroll together," Franklin remarked.

"Years." Eleanor laughed.

A new year began on earth, and on March 3, 1963, an attractive thirty-year-old brunette entered heaven, introducing herself as Patsy Cline. "I was on my way back from a concert," she explained.

"Join the club," Buddy Holly said sympathetically. The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens stood beside him, and Ritchie was holding hands with Heidrun Goebbels, who at twenty-one had grown to be a beautiful young woman.

"It's always a pleasure to meet a fellow musician, even one from a different genre," Patsy said affably, shaking hands with the three young men.

"Hey, don't forget me," said Stu Sutcliffe, who'd arrived the previous year courtesy of a brain aneurysm.

"Sounds like you're from across the pond," Patsy observed cheerfully.

"Edinburgh, Scotland," Stu replied proudly.

"Another fellow countryman," Anne said approvingly.

"Why don't you sing something for us," the Big Bopper suggested.

Patsy played guitar and sang 'Walking After Midnight' and 'She's Got You.' "This here's my favorite," she announced before singing 'Crazy.'

"I really like that," Louis said when she'd finished. "Could you sing it again, please?"

"Certainly!" Patsy played and sang 'Crazy' again. As she was singing, Louis took Anne's hand, looked into her eyes, and lip-synched along.

"You silly thing," Anne muttered with a big grin, but Louis could tell by the way she blushed that she was really very pleased.


	68. Ponies In Heaven

On September 15, 1963, Louis and Anne watched as four frightened African-American girls entered heaven, looking around in bewilderment. They'd met many Africans and people of African descent from other countries in heaven, of course, but these four seemed to have a particularly tragic air about them.

"Welcome to heaven," Anne told them. "I'm Anne, and this is Louis. We'd be happy to show you around, if you like."

The four looked at one another, and at last the one who looked like the oldest spoke. "I'm Cynthia, and this is Addie Mae, Carole, and Denise," she told Anne. "We don't know what happened. We were on our way into the church basement, and suddenly we heard a loud noise, and I felt like I was flying. The next thing I knew, I was here."

"I want to go back!" the youngest girl, Denise, cried. "Mama's going to be worried about me!"

"We can't go back," Carole said solemnly. "We died. That's why we're here."

"But why?" asked Denise.

"There must have been an explosion," Addie Mae said. "You know a lot of people hate our church because of what we stand for. Someone must have planted a bomb."

"But it's a _church! _God's house!" Denise protested.

"That doesn't matter to some people," Cynthia said darkly.

"How old are you girls?" asked Anne.

"Addie Mae, Carole, and I are fourteen, and Denise is eleven," Cynthia told her.

"So young..." Anne looked mournfully at Louis.

"How would you girls like to stay with us for awhile?" Louis asked the four. "We adopted a family of six children who'd been murdered by their own parents, but they're all grown up now, and since you four aren't quite all grown up yet, and your own parents are still on earth, perhaps you could live with us, just until you've finished growing up."

Cynthia looked around at the other three, and they all slowly nodded.

"What's it like up here?" asked Addie Mae, suddenly curious. "In church we always heard there are mansions, gates of pearl, walls of jasper, and streets of gold. Is all that really true?"

Louis laughed. "Well, the streets aren't really made of literal gold. They're made of asphalt and concrete, just like the streets on earth are. That's just a figure of speech. It means that heaven is a place of unlimited wealth, that anything material that you desire is right at your fingertips. All you have to do is think of it."

"I always wanted a pony," Carole said wistfully. No sooner had she spoken than a beautiful brown Shetland pony appeared right beside her.

"Can we all have ponies?" asked Denise. Three more ponies instantly appeared.

"Great!" said Louis. "Now we can all go riding together!"

"Nobody ever taught us how," Cynthia said sadly.

"That's no problem," Louis said cheerfully. "Anne and I will teach you."

* * *

><p>Anne and Louis enjoyed having teenagers around again, and on November 22 of that same year, a dignified-looking middle-aged man entered heaven. Right away an attractive brunette ran up to him and embraced him. "My darling!" she exclaimed.<p>

"My love!" he replied. Much hugging and kissing followed, and then the man introduced himself to Louis and Anne.

"I'm C.S. Lewis," he told them. "And this is my beloved wife, Joy. We were married only a short time before cancer took her from me."

"I'm perfectly healthy again now," Joy told him. "Now we can spend as much time as we like doing all the things we never got the chance to do when we were alive on earth."

"I once wrote a series of children's books," C.S. told Louis and Anne. "In them I talked about heaven, but I called it Narnia, and the main character was a lion called Aslan, who represented Jesus. Now that I'm here myself, I can see how the real thing compares to the way I always fancied it to be."

"I think you'll find it infinitely more wonderful than your wildest dreams," Joy told her husband.

"Of that I've no doubt," C.S. replied.

Another person who had been very well-known in life entered heaven the same day C.S. Lewis did, only under much more unpleasant circumstances.


	69. A Killer And His Victim

He strode into heaven at 12:30 pm that day, looking very distinguished but a mite puzzled, as did all those who entered suddenly and unexpectedly. From his regal carriage, Louis wondered whether he might be a fellow former monarch. "Over what land did you rule?" he asked the newcomer.

The man looked as if he didn't quite understand the question. "I'm John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States," he told Louis.

"Jack!" called a voice from nearby. Louis turned and saw a young man holding a baby boy in one arm and the hand of a little girl who looked to be about seven in the other.

"Joe!" Jack replied, and the two men embraced warmly.

"Meet little Patrick and Arabella," Joe said to his brother. "Kathleen and I took care of them for you while you were still alive on earth."

"Patrick!" Jack said happily, taking the baby into his arms. "And Arabella!" he continued to the little girl, who looked a bit confused. "I'm your Daddy," Jack told her. She grinned and threw her arms around his neck.

Within moments a young woman had joined them. "It's wonderful to see you again, Kathleen," Jack said to her.

"But I thought lifespans had increased significantly in the latter half of this century," Louis said, looking perplexed. "You seem to have lost a number of family members at relatively young ages."

"We Kennedys seem to have more than our share of bad luck," Jack replied with a resigned sigh. "My brother Joseph was killed in World War II, and my sister Kathleen died in an airplane crash several years later. My daughter Arabella was stillborn, and my son Patrick died of prematurity."

"Of my own four children, only one lived to adulthood," Louis told Jack.

"I still have two children alive on earth," Jack replied. "Caroline's six, and John Jr. is three. I pray they'll be a consolation to my wife Jackie as she grieves my loss."

"I doubt she'd grieve nearly as hard if she knew what kind of man you really were," said a cold feminine voice.

Jack turned toward it. "Marilyn." He acknowledged her with a nod.

"How many nights did your wife go to bed alone while either you or your brother warmed my bed?" Marilyn Monroe continued, her eyes blazing.

"Well, it doesn't really matter anymore now, does it," Jack mumbled.

"You finally got what you deserved, and I'll bet Robert's turn is coming up soon, too." Marilyn continued to glare at the former president.

"What do you know about Robert?" Jack asked in alarm.

"Why, nothing at all," Marilyn said innocently. "But in the brief time I've been here, I've learned how Karma works."

Jack took Arabella by the hand and walked away holding baby Patrick with Joseph and Kathleen walking beside him. Marilyn watched them go.

"Oh, Marilyn, just forget about him," Margot Frank urged her friend. "You were enjoying the picnic we were having together before he showed up."

"Sorry," said Marilyn. "I didn't mean to spoil your fun. It's just that I had no idea _he'd _be showing up here today."

"I don't think he did himself, either," Margot said wryly.

A couple of days later, a sullen, angry young man arrived at the gates of heaven.

"What are _you _doing here?" Jack Kennedy demanded angrily.

"I was innocent! I swear to you, I was innocent!" Lee Harvey Oswald protested.

"Hey, take it easy." Louis put a hand on each man's shoulder. "You know it's up to Him to determine guilt or innocence, and you can trust Him to be fair." Lee blanched in fear.

"I know how you feel." Jack turned to see Abraham Lincoln. "I remember what it was like to face John Wilkes Booth when he arrived," Abraham continued. "Louis is right about the Almighty, you know."

Jack looked at Abraham sympathetically. "I remember learning about you in school," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, and to know that someone else has been where I am now."

"I have the feeling those two are going to become very good friends," Louis said to Anne as they watched the two men walk away together.


	70. Anne Goes Crazy

On February 9, 1964, Louis and Anne received a visit from a very excited Stu Sutcliffe. "You've _got _to hear this group!" he exclaimed.

"So I take it another trip to earth is in order, then," Louis said with a bemused smile.

"Absolutely!" Stu insisted.

Louis shrugged. "Well, come along," he chuckled, grasping Anne's hand.

Suddenly they were part of a screaming mob of mostly teenaged girls in the audience of the Ed Sullivan show. On stage, four young men with identical mops of dark brown hair were preparing to perform.

"They call themselves 'The Beatles'," Stu explained. "Their lead singer's name is John Lennon. He and I go way back. We met at the Liverpool College of Art."

"He must have been devastated by your death," Anne remarked.

"Who are the other musicians?" asked Louis.

"The left-handed guitarist is Paul McCartney," Stu said. "The other guitarist is George Harrison, and the drummer is Ringo Starr."

"Something about George makes me think of Mark Smeaton," Anne mused. "I have no idea why, as they're four centuries apart."

"They're both English, and they're both musicians," Louis pointed out.

"I'm sure there's more to it than just that," Anne replied. "Perhaps it will eventually come to me. What's even weirder is that there's something about Paul that makes me think of my dear brother George."

"Did someone just mention my name?" asked a masculine voice from a row or two over. Anne turned to see her brother, smiling and standing beside his wife Jane. "Jane wanted to come to the concert," he explained.

The band warmed up and were soon playing all their biggest hits, including 'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', 'Please Please Me,' and others. Anne and Jane screamed and cheered along with all the teenage girls. For Anne, it was such an intense experience that she quite forgot who she was and, for the duration of the concert, truly believed that she was a teenage girl alive on earth in the year 1964. Louis, who was not affected in quite the same way, watched her with amusement at first and then growing concern.

As the band played the final number and then left the stage, Anne began to sob heavily. "No, no! Come back! Come back! Just one more song! Please!"

"Anne?" Louis asked, but she was completely oblivious to him. "Anne!"

"I love you, John! I love you, Paul! I love you, George! I love you, Ringo! I love all of you!" Anne shouted in a voice that was much faster and higher-pitched than the one she normally used.

"Anne, look at me!" Louis grabbed her arms and gazed into her eyes. She babbled incoherently for several minutes, then suddenly seemed to snap out of it.

"What in the world got into you, Anne?" Louis' voice was soft with concern.

"Why, I don't know." Anne's normal voice was back, and it sounded very confused. "While I was listening to the music, I heard all the girls screaming, and it was like I just lost myself and became a part of the whole experience..." Her eyes filled with tears. "Take me back to heaven, Louis."

Louis clasped her hand, and instantly they were back home. Anne was still shaking. Louis held her and rubbed her back soothingly. "For a moment there, I thought I'd lost you," he chuckled. "I think I'm going to start wearing my hair like that and take up playing guitar," he added winsomely.

An image of Louis as a fifth Beatle came to Anne's mind and made her giggle hysterically. "But I love you just the way you are, Louis."

* * *

><p>On April 5 of that year, Douglas MacArthur arrived in heaven and was greeted warmly by John Basilone, Mike Strank, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.<p>

"You were one of the greatest men of the twentieth century," Franklin Roosevelt said to Douglas. "It's an honor to have known you."

"The same is true for me," John Kennedy added. "Without you, the United States might not have survived two world wars."

"I'm so glad that I was able to do all that I did for my country," Douglas told his admirers. "Now I'm happy to enter a place of rest and comfort."

"No one deserves it more than you do," Franklin Roosevelt told him.


	71. To See Again

For several years, things were peaceful and calm in heaven. Louis and Anne got to know some of the more recent arrivals better. James Dean took Anne for a ride in his race car, and she had the time of her life but would have been really scared a couple of times if she hadn't realized that nothing could really happen to her in heaven. It was the first time she'd actually ridden a vehicle in heaven, although she remembered the bus ride she and Louis had taken on earth some thirty years previously.

Then on April 4, 1968, a distinguished-looking middle-aged African-American man entered heaven. "I'm Martin Luther King Jr., the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize," he told Anne and Louis as he shook their hands. "I died a martyr's death struggling for justice for my people, trying to bring an end to segregation in the Southern United States."

"Dr. King!" cried several young voices, and Anne turned to see Cynthia, Addie Mae, Carole, and Denise rushing to greet the new arrival. Cynthia, Addie Mae, and Carole were nineteen now, and Denise was sixteen.

"So you already know each other," Anne remarked, surprised.

"Dr. King spoke at our church several times," Cynthia explained.

"It's wonderful to see you girls again, although of course I'll miss my own children very much," Martin said to the girls.

A couple of months later, on June first of that year, a rather ordinary-looking woman entered heaven and looked around herself in surprise and wonder. "All the colors are just so amazing!" she exclaimed. Anne just looked at her, baffled.

"I lost both my sight and my hearing when I was just eighteen months old," the woman explained to her. "I was too young to remember, so for me it's just like I'm seeing and hearing for the first time. Oh, by the way, my name is Helen Keller."

"I'm Anne, and this is Louis," Anne told Helen. "There are just so many beautiful sights to see here in heaven that I think you could spend an eternity looking at them and still not see them all, and there's a lot of beautiful music to listen to as well. Come on, Louis and I will show you some of our favorite gardens."

Louis and Anne spent a very long time giving Helen a tour of some of heaven's loveliest gardens. They didn't get tired at all, as in heaven, there's no need for sleep. While they were showing her around, they met up with Mary Ingalls. "I believe we were contemporaries, although I never met you while on earth," Mary said after Helen introduced herself. "Like you, I was blind for most of my life, although I didn't lose my sight until I was in my early teens, so I remember what it was like to see. Even so, I never tire of enjoying heaven's beauty."

"I'm simply ecstatic to finally be here," Helen replied.

They were still touring the gardens when Anne and Louis noticed that John Kennedy was racing for heaven's gate. "My brother just arrived," he told them. Anne and Louis went with him to meet his younger brother Robert. Joseph, Kathleen, Arabella, and little Patrick were there too, of course, and so was Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Welcome to the club," Martin said grimly.

"Yeah, I know," Robert replied in the same tone of voice. "I would have at least liked to have lived long enough to see my last child born."

"I know how you feel," said a voice nearby. "We both do." Robert turned to see Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Buddy was the one who'd spoken.

"You can watch from up here, of course, but it isn't the same as actually being there physically," the Big Bopper added.

In October of that same year, Almanzo and Laura Wilder welcomed their daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, into heaven.

"It's good to see them reunited," Anne remarked. "Now that whole family is together again."

"Yes," Louis agreed, putting an arm around her.


	72. Standing On The Moon

The man who in his previous incarnation had been Adolf Hitler was now a slight, unassuming twenty-three-year-old named Norman Bernstein. Norman was dark complected and had oily black hair, a severe case of acne, and a too-big nose.

On this particular evening, Norman was walking home from Yeshiva with a stack of books in his arms when he heard someone shout at him. "Hey, Jew boy!"

He turned to see a huge, muscular man dressed all in leather and sitting astride a motorcycle. He was bald and had a swastika tattooed on top of his head, and swastikas and other Nazi symbols tattooed all down both arms. He raised a handgun and fired it straight at Norman, hitting the young man full in the face.

Adolf/Norman came to in heaven a few seconds later to see the Almighty staring at him coldly. "That was hardly even a start," he told Adolf/Norman. "Go back down there. You have much, much more atoning to do."

"But what about that jerk who just blew my head off?" Adolf/Norman spluttered angrily.

"He'll have his own penitence to pay when he arrives here, just like you did."

* * *

><p>"I'd sure hate to be in his shoes," Louis sighed as he took Anne's hand and they began to walk away.<p>

A new year arrived, and on January 4, 1969, two identical dark-haired women entered heaven. "For the very first time in our lives, my sister and I have completely separate bodies of our own," one of the women told Anne.

"What do you mean?" asked Anne.

"We were born joined at the hip," the second woman explained. "I'm Violet Hilton, and my sister's name is Daisy. We spent almost our entire lives being exhibited in sideshows and circuses as freaks."

"You mean people paid money just to look at you?" asked Anne.

"That's right," Daisy told her. "We were used to it and didn't mind. We enjoyed the attention."

"But something about that seems somehow cruel, doesn't it?" Anne asked Louis.

"In future generations, when medical science is more knowledgeable about such things, it will probably seem so," Louis replied. "In the Victorian age, when such matters were still shrouded in mystery, I suppose it must have been quite natural for things that couldn't be understood to be held in awe and wonder as well as feared."

On March 28 of that year, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and several other former American Presidents welcomed Dwight Eisenhower into heaven.

"I wept the day I heard you'd been assassinated," Eisenhower told Kennedy. "It's such a joy to see you alive again."

On June 22, a dark-haired, middle-aged woman entered heaven. "I'm Judy Garland, and I was an actress and singer," she told Anne and Louis. "When I was a young girl, I starred in a movie where I sang a song about wanting to fly over a rainbow. I guess I finally accomplished that." As if it had heard her, a bluebird swooped down and landed on her shoulder. Unlike birds on earth, birds in heaven have no fear of humans.

On July 3, another young musician arrived. His name was Brian Jones, and he was a countryman of Stu Sutcliffe. Stu, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and all their musical friends greeted him warmly.

On July 20 of that year, one of the most significant events of that century happened. Louis and Anne watched as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the Apollo 11 spacecraft and onto the surface of the moon.

"Wow," said Louis.

"We can go there too, you know," Anne told him.

"We can?"

"It's just like visiting earth. Close your eyes and concentrate." They did, and a moment later, they were standing on the moon's dry, rocky surface. Since they weren't in physical bodies, they had no need of oxygen and were similarly unaffected by temperature or pressure extremes.

"When I was a little boy, I used to stand at the window looking out at the moon for hours," Louis said. "Someone had once told me that it was made of green cheese, and I used to wish that I could fly like a bird so that I could get near enough to take a bite out of it."

Anne laughed. "I don't think you would have found it very tasty." She scooped up a handful of moon dust and watched as it slowly filtered through her open fingers.

"I suppose that no matter where you travel on the moon, the terrain looks pretty much the same," Louis remarked. "There isn't nearly as much variety here as there is on earth, is there?"

"I'd imagine you're right," Anne replied. "But there are also other worlds we could explore that are very different from the moon."

"Oh yes, the stars and planets!" Louis exclaimed. "Do you suppose we'd have time to visit them all?"

"Why, of course. We have all the time we need to do whatever we want."

"I meant without missing any important events in heaven or on earth."

"We wouldn't have to explore the entire universe all at once," Anne pointed out. "We could check back from time to time to find out who's arrived or what's going on."

"Sounds like a plan!" said Louis. "So, where would you like to start?"


	73. Exploring The Universe

"We would like to accompany you on your journey, if you do not mind." Startled, Louis and Anne turned to see who had spoken and noticed two men standing beside them. One was overweight and had a receding hairline and a full beard, while the other was tall and thin with long wavy hair and intense dark eyes. The first man was the one who'd spoken.

"My name is Galileo Galilei," he told Anne and Louis. "I discovered the four largest satellites of the planet Jupiter, and I also struggled my entire life to prove that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun instead of the sun revolving around the earth. For that I was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition and placed under house arrest for the remainder of my life."

"I'm Sir Isaac Newton," added the second man. "I proved that Galileo's theory was correct, thus exonerating him posthumously."

"We were both thrilled to watch the first humans travel to the moon and actually set foot upon it," Galileo added. "We're fascinated by how far astronomical knowledge has advanced since our time."

"So where to first?" asked Louis.

"I think we should start with Mercury," said Anne. "After all, it's the closest to the sun. We may as well visit the planets in order."

"I think that's a good idea," Isaac agreed. A moment later, they were standing on the small planet's rocky surface.

"Why, it looks very similar to the moon," Anne observed as the four travelers looked out over its dry, deeply pitted surface.

"This is the side that faces the sun," Galileo told her. "If we were in physical bodies, we couldn't be here at all, as we wouldn't be able to bear the heat."

"Nor the cold of the side facing away from the sun," Isaac added.

"I think it's rather boring," said Anne. "I'm ready to move onto Venus. Perhaps it will be more interesting."

A moment later, they were standing on the surface of the second planet from the sun. Its surface was very flat and uniform, with an occasional slab-like rock. Bolts of lightning flashed continuously from the sky.

"We would be in even greater danger in physical bodies here," Galileo told his companions. "Even if we could somehow survive the intense heat, the pressure would crush us."

"Well, let's see if Mars is any more hospitable," Louis suggested.

The next thing they knew, they were standing on a low, flat, dusty plain littered with rocks. In the distance, they could see several volcanoes.

"Where we're standing is the Borealis basin," Galileo said. "It was formed by being struck by a Pluto-sized object about four billion years ago."

"Everywhere we've visited so far just look so...forsaken," Anne remarked.

"That's because all the environments we've seen so far have been inhospitable to any physical life," Isaac told her.

"Well, onwards and upwards," said Louis.

Soon they found themselves floating in what seemed to be a rapidly swirling cloud. "Since the surface of Jupiter is gaseous rather than solid, it is impossible to stand on," Galileo said. "Below us is a vast liquid mantle suspended above a rocky core."

"I feel like I'm in the middle of a hurricane!" Anne exclaimed.

"That's exactly where you are," Galileo told her. "The surface of Jupiter is very turbulent. Near us is the Great Red Spot, a storm so large it's visible from earth's telescopes."

"I think I'd just as soon move on," Louis said dryly.

The next gaseous atmosphere the group found themselves floating in had a pale yellowish hue, but that was far from the most noticeable thing about it. "They're beautiful!" Anne exclaimed, gasping in awe at the rings encircling the planet. "What are they made of?"

"Mostly particles of ice," Isaac told her. Because of the rings' beauty, Anne was a bit more reluctant to leave Saturn than she had been on the previous planets they'd visited.

The atmosphere of Uranus was aquamarine rather than pale yellow, while that of Neptune was a deeper blue.

Arriving upon Pluto's surface, the group found themselves standing on solid ground once again, this time black, orange, and white ice. The sun now looked very far away. "Well, that's about it, I guess," Louis concluded.

"Unless you'd like to explore some of the more bizarre objects in the universe," said Galileo.

"Such as?" asked Anne.

"There are objects called neutron stars, stars that are so tightly packed that they've lost their protons and electrons. And no, they weren't known about in my time. I'd been in heaven almost three hundred years before I learned of their existence from a more recently arrived colleague."

"I can't even begin to imagine what _that _would look like," said Louis.

"I'd imagine it's quite indescribable," added Anne. In an instant they were there. "I was right," Anne said as she took a few steps on the strange surface. "It _is _quite indescribable."

"There's an object in the universe that's even more bizarre than this," said Galileo. "It's smaller and more dense than a neutron star, not even stable enough to prevent neutrons from collapsing. It's gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape from its surface. That's why it's called a black hole."

"Even in spirit form, I'd hesitate to venture there," said a new voice. The four turned to see a solemn-faced man with a mustache and white hair that flew crazily out from his head in all directions. "I'm Albert Einstein," the newcomer announced. "With all due respect to you two fine gentlemen, the field of astrophysics made great advances in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and I was able to prove that the pull of gravity influences the passage of time. The greater the pull of gravity on an object, the more slowly time passes. Beyond the event horizon of a black hole, the pull of gravity is infinite. Therefore, time is at a complete standstill there and doesn't pass at all. You might be able to get there, but once you arrived, you could do no more, as any action requires the time dimension to proceed. Theoretically, at least, you would cease to exist."

Anne shuddered. "This is all getting entirely too weird for me," she said. "I'm ready to return to heaven."

"As am I," agrred Louis.

The three scientists laughed. "That's what we thought you'd say," said Albert.


	74. Woodstock

Upon their return to heaven, Louis and Anne were greeted warmly by their biological and adopted children and all their other family members and friends. They were asked many questions about their adventure, and several of the braver souls even began to plan their own trips into outer space.

They'd barely settled back into their heavenly routine when they got another opportunity to visit earth.

"Come with us to Woodstock!" urged Buddy Holly. He was accompanied by the Big Bopper, Richie Valens, Stu Sutcliffe, and several more of their musician friends, including Patsy Cline. "Some of the top modern artists are gonna be performing there! It should be a real blast!"

"It isn't my sound, but I'm still curious about it," Patsy added.

So on August 15, 1969, the entire group arrived at a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, to find what was probably the largest crowd of people they'd ever seen in one place at the same time on earth. The heavenly visitors gazed around themselves in utter amazement.

Many of the congregation wore hardly any clothing at all, and of those who did, male and female alike wore colorful flowing robes or jeans with big belts and vests. Many wore beads or feathers, reminding Anne of her long-ago visit to earth with Tecumseh. Some sprawled atop their vehicles, and a few even stood on top of a bus. Naked children ran about curiously while their parents sat in small groups smoking marijuana, their eyes glazed and silly grins on their faces.

"Man, I sure didn't know it was gonna be like this," the Big Bopper said apprehensively.

"I think it's really interesting! Don't you, Louis?" asked Anne.

"I suppose so," Louis replied mildly.

The concert began at about 5:00 pm, and over the next four days, Anne, Louis, and their friends were treated to the music of Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Santana, Canned Heat, the Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Jimi Hendrix, and many others.

"That was a whole different experience from that Beatles concert a few years ago, wasn't it?" Louis asked Anne after Jimi Hendrix had performed a psychedelic version of the American National Anthem and 'Purple Haze.'

"The Beatles concert was shorter, but very, very intense," Anne agreed. "This was more of a relaxing experience, like just floating right along with the music." In their spiritual bodies they were not influenced by the effects of the marijuana, but the music had a psychological impact on them, nonetheless.

Little did they know at the time how relatively soon two of the performers, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, would be joining the heavenly throng.

* * *

><p>In November of that year, Joseph, John, Kathleen, and Robert Kennedy were joined by their father, Joseph Sr., and on February 17 of the following year, Louis and Anne witnessed a heart wrenching scene as a young woman carrying an infant and accompanied by two little girls entered heaven. The woman and her daughters looked dazed and shocked.<p>

"I just don't see how he could have done it," the woman said, shaking her head incredulously. "I know he was angry at me, but why did he have to take it out on the girls as well?"

"What happened?" asked Anne.

"My husband and I got into a fight," the woman told her. "Kimberley here walked in on us, and he hit her too, but that wasn't enough. He hit and stabbed her over and over again until she was dead, and then he walked down the hall to where little Kristen was sleeping and did the same thing to her! Once the girls were dead, he came back and finished killing me. My little one here was still inside my body when I died."

"How sad!" Anne exclaimed, glancing down at the sleeping baby's perfect little form. "My own husband had a couple of his wives killed, but he never would have harmed any of his children."

"Who was your husband?" asked the young mother.

"King Henry VIII of England."

"I don't believe it!" For the first time, the woman was distracted from her own predicament. "And which wife were you?"

"Anne Boleyn, his second wife."

"My name is Colette MacDonald," the new arrival told Anne. "As betrayed as I feel right now, it is comforting to know that I am now in the presence of women who have been in a similar situation."

Anne and Colette soon found that the four centuries separating their lives on earth were no hindrance whatsoever to their forming a very close friendship in heaven.


	75. Make Love, Not War

Anne and Louis' space-traveling friends included Tecumseh and Elizabeth, Captain Smith and Pocahontas, the Red Baron, Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children, Geli Raubal, Charlie Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, the Franks, and others. Upon the group's return, she met up with their guides, Galileo and Isaac Newton, and talked with the two men some more.

"I can sympathize with your being considered a heretic," she told Galileo. "My family and I were branded heretics as well, and I especially was accused of luring Henry away from the true church. My daughter Elizabeth after me had to live in fear of her life as well for several years before she became Queen. Protestants were being burned at the stake by the hundreds at the time."

"Many people are afraid of change," Galileo replied. "Hanging onto old traditions or beliefs makes them feel safe. Progress should be viewed as inevitable and anticipated rather than feared."

"I was a child during the English Civil War," Isaac Newton added. "I grew up in an environment of turmoil and uncertainty."

"I watched from here as King Charles I was beheaded," Anne told him. "He was the grandson of Elizabeth's cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. It was so hard for me to believe that the English monarchy was actually coming to an end. I'd always simply assumed that it would go on forever."

In the meantime, Colette MacDonald and her daughters met several members of another family who'd also died young and tragically.

"I'm Sandy Rogers, and these are my younger sisters, Robin and Debbie," said a young man several years younger than Colette. "All three of us are the children are Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. I was eighteen and in the Army when I died. I choked to death trying to prove how much alcohol I could drink."

"I was born with Down's syndrome," added Robin. She was twenty years old and beautiful, with blonde hair and dark eyes. "I died of complications from mumps when I was only two. Although happy to be here and to finally be normal and healthy, I was a bit lonely for a few years, as all my other family members were still alive on earth."

"I was only twelve when I was killed in a bus crash," said Debbie. "Robin was one of the first people I met up here, and even though I never knew her on earth, as I was born the same year she died and wasn't adopted by the Rogers until several years later, I knew right away who she was."

On May 4, 1970, four young adults, two male and two female, arrived in heaven. Although dressed much more nicely than the attendees of the Woodstock festival had been, they seemed somehow to be very similar to them, and each held up two fingers in a 'peace' sign.

"Hey, man, all we were trying to do was to get us some peace, and the fuzz had to go and off us," the first young man complained.

"Peace is groovy!" proclaimed one of the young women.

"Yeah, man, peace is groovy!" echoed the second young woman.

"What war were you protesting?" Louis asked the group.

"Vietnam," the second young man replied. "It's such a waste, man, such a waste. Men getting sent over there to die by the thousands just 'cause the squares are so scared of the Reds. I think the Reds are kind of groovy. They're pretty cool folks. Live and let live, that's what I say."

"The squares? The Reds?" Louis was very confused.

"You know, man, the establishment."

"Down with the squares!" the other three started chanting.

"And who are the Reds?" asked Louis.

"You know, the Pinkos. Communists."

"Oh," said Louis. "Like Lenin and Stalin."

"Yeah, exactly!" said one of the young men. "They had some pretty groovy ideas, everybody sharing the land, living in peace and harmony."

"Yeah," chimed in one of the young women. "Make love, not war!"

Louis and Anne looked at one another in amusement. "I'd certainly rather make love than go to war any day," said Louis. "However bizarre they might seem to us, perhaps this generation is onto something."

Anne silenced him with a passionate kiss.


	76. Concert In The Park

"Where do you want to go this time?" Louis whispered. After nearly two hundred years together, the two of them had made love in almost every conceivable location: along the sunny beaches of Spain, in the lavish palace gardens of France, in a little cabin atop a snowy mountain in Russia, in the jungles of the Amazon, in a nineteenth century bordello on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, at the top of the Statue of Liberty, and even in a cave beneath the hot springs of the Pacific Ocean. They'd found making love underwater to be a unique experience.

"San Francisco's nice this time of year," Anne suggested, and they immediately found themselves transported to a secluded area on the beach beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Anne made growling noises in the back of her throat as she ripped Louis' clothing from his body piece by piece and, still fully clothed herself, knelt before him and took his member into her mouth. Within seconds he was hard, and she continued to pleasure him with her mouth until he was groaning and bucking.

"Now its my turn, you bad boy," she said lustily. Right away, he lay back on the quilt as she slowly removed her own clothing and then knelt straddling his face.

He slowly ran his tongue between her velvety folds until he reached the tiny bundle of nerves at her center, which he teased with its tip as she moaned her appreciation. Quickly she was over the edge, and while still in the throes of her climax, she positioned herself over his manhood, slowly descending upon it while groaning in ecstasy as he filled her, then rolling onto her back so that he lay atop her. After several thrusts, he was grunting his own release.

Afterwards, they lay upon the quilt, holding one another until their breathing returned to normal.

"You know, it really amazes me," Louis said. "To me, every time we make love is just as thrilling and intoxicating as the first time."

"It's that way for me as well," Anne replied. "I could spend eternity making love to you, Louis, and every single time would be fresh and new."

Later they strolled around the city seeing some of the sights, took a ride on a cable car, and then finally returned to heaven.

* * *

><p>On September 18 of that year, a familiar face entered heaven.<p>

"We watched you perform at Woodstock," Louis told Jimi Hendrix. "You were pretty good."

"Pretty good? He was great!" Anne said.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the concert," Jimi told them. "Although I didn't expect to arrive here quite so soon afterwards. Took too many downers, man."

Less than a month later, on October 4, another Woodstock performer arrived. "Man, I should have gotten off the horse a long time ago," Janis Joplin said.

"You were thrown by a horse?" asked Louis.

Janis rolled her eyes. "Not _that _kind of horse."

"I think she must mean some kind of drug," Anne explained. "I love you, dear, but you do sound an awful lot like a square sometimes."

"You, my dear, were born in the wrong century," Louis observed wryly.

On July 3 of the following year, Jim Morrison arrived. He grinned at Janis, who glowered back at him. "You ain't still got that bottle of booze around, do ya?" he asked her.

"You'd better stay away from me!" she snarled.

"Women!" Jim complained.

After much cajoling by Anne, the three were persuaded to put on a concert in the park. Jimi performed 'Purple Haze' and 'All Along The Watchtower,' Janis performed 'Mercedes Benz' and 'Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart', and Jim performed 'Riders On The Storm' and 'Light My Fire.'

"Such tremendous talent lost by earth but gained by heaven," Anne remarked afterwards.

* * *

><p>"So tell me about your parents," Colette MacDonald said to Sandy Rogers. The two of them had become very good friends, and Sandy was pushing Colette's daughters on the swing in the park while Colette held her infant son.<p>

"They were actors and singers, and my mother was an author as well," Sandy told her. "My father had a band called Sons of the Pioneers when he was younger, and he and my mother were in a lot of movies together later on. That's how they met and fell in love. Later they had their own TV show as well. They adopted me when I was very young. I had a lot of brothers and sisters, and most of them were adopted as well."

"Why did you join the military instead of going into entertainment yourself?"

"I thought it would be a good way to see the world. Of course, if I'd known what was going to happen, I would have just stayed home and made commercials instead." He watched Kristen's blonde hair flying in the breeze as the swing came back to him, wondering how on earth her father could have done what he'd done.


	77. Trumpet Duet

In addition to heaven's human population, many angels also dwelt there. Also existing in spirit form, they were easily distinguished from humans by their much taller stature and the wings on their backs. They mingled amongst heaven's human populace, befriending, but never mating with, earth's former denizens.

In addition to the well-known angels mentioned in the Bible such as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, there were many lesser known angels, both male and female, who still had important tasks, such as relaying messages between the deceased and their loved ones on earth and carrying or escorting babies and small children who had died alone and unloved into heaven.

One day Anne struck up a conversation with a female angel named Hope.

"You were here when the first human died and entered heaven," she said. "What was that like for you?"

"It was a rather unique experience to meet a being who'd been created, like us, but who, unlike us, was created mortal, so that he first had to experience death to become immortal."

"It must have been rather lonely for him at first, until he was joined by more humans," Anne remarked.

"They began arriving so quickly afterwards that he had no time to be lonely." Hope chuckled. "What's amazing to us is how much we've had to expand over the past century. The population on earth has literally exploded, and consequently, the death rate has accelerated as well."

"So I've noticed," Anne replied. "Don't you ever find any of the male arrivals to be attractive?"

"As eternal beings from our creation, we do not experience romantic or sexual desire, nor can I even comprehend what it would be like to do so," said Hope. "Since humans have limited life spans on earth, they possess a built-in desire to mate and reproduce for the purpose of repopulating the earth. Those created immortal have no such yearnings, as there is no practical need for them."

"No _practical _need, perhaps," said Anne. "But I just can't help but feel that you're missing out on an awful lot by not having sexual relations. It creates such a unique bond with another person that couldn't be achieved in any other way."

Hope laughed. "I suppose you can't miss what you never have in the first place. Besides, from what I've heard, pregnancy and childbirth are physically uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous for human females."

"That was certainly true of _my _time on earth." Anne chuckled. "Perhaps significantly less so for women in modern times, at least in most cases, but when it's over with, and you're holding this tiny, innocent, helpless human being who's both a part of you and a part of the man you love, well, there's nothing in the world that compares to that."

"Tell me, Anne," said Hope. "What does it feel like to die?"

"My own death was relatively painless, compared to many others," Anne replied. "I felt the sword against my neck, then a sharp, crushing pain, then a falling sensation, and then one of swift flight. It all happened very quickly, in a matter of seconds. The physical change from mortal body to spiritual one was a bit disconcerting at first, but I got accustomed to it very quickly."

On July 6, 1971, just three days after Jim Morrison's arrival in heaven, the angel Gabriel got some real competition when trumpet player Louis Armstrong arrived in heaven. The archangel himself greeted the jazz musician upon his arrival. "I heard you perform a number of times myself," Gabriel told Louis. "I daresay you play nearly as well as I myself do, even in the thousands of years I've had in which to practice."

Louis promptly put his trumpet to his lips and performed a rousing rendition of 'When The Saints Go Marching In.' When he was finished, the multitude of souls who'd gathered to hear him perform broke into wild applause.

"I'd be happy to perform a duet with you," Gabriel offered.

"You're on," Louis replied. The two of them performed 'Stompin' At The Savoy' as a duet, and then Gabriel provided musical accompaniment while Louis sang 'What A Wonderful World.'

"This song always makes me cry," Anne sniffled.

"Hey, no reason to cry." Louis softly touched her cheek, then bowed to her. "May I have this dance, madame?"

Lightly he spun her around and around as she gracefully followed his lead. Although never an expert dancer on earth, over the past almost two centuries, he'd refined his technique until he was one of the best.

Louis Armstrong sang 'All The Time In The World' next. "We really do have it, you know," Louis whispered to Anne as they continued dancing. She felt a lump in her throat as she nodded.


	78. Victims Of Circumstance

When they'd finished dancing, Louis Armstrong approached King Louis. "Are you who I think you are?" he asked.

"I'm King Louis XVI of France," King Louis told him.

"Hey, man, what an honor!" Louis Armstrong exclaimed, heartily shaking the former monarch's hand. "The state I was born in was named for you."

"I know." King Louis smiled and blushed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well...Louis."

"Hey, just call me Satchmo or Pops. That's what everyone's always called me," Louis Armstrong said pleasantly.

September 11 of that year brought the arrival of Nikita Kruschev, who was greeted, surprisingly enough, by John F. Kennedy. "I saw the way you and your countrymen mourned my death, and it touched me deeply," John told Nikita. "I had thought that you would still be angry that I made you withdraw those missiles from Cuba."

"We didn't mean them as a threat to your country," Nikita replied. "We were only trying to protect our new island friends."

"Fidel Castro doesn't need your protection," said John. "He's quite capable of taking care of himself. But I don't want to argue about that right now. Come on, comrade, and let me show you around heaven."

"That was quite touching," Louis remarked as he and Anne watched the two former leaders of enemy countries walk away together.

"I think it's wonderful that those two were able to put aside their differences and become friends in heaven," Anne replied. She was watching as John introduced Nikita to the Romanovs, who'd come to meet him simply out of curiosity and bore him no ill will. Olga, the oldest daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra, remarked that she and Nikita had only been about a year and a half apart in age when they'd both been alive on earth.

A new year arrived, and in September of 1972, twelve young men entered heaven. As they all looked remarkably healthy and fit, Louis and Anne surmised that their deaths had almost certainly not been by natural causes.

The first to arrive introduced himself as Moshe Weinberg and said that he was a wrestling coach. "We were right in the middle of the Olympic competitions in Munich, when suddenly a group of terrorists broke into the place we were staying and took us hostage," he explained. "There was an attempt to rescue us, but the terrorists shot into the helicopters we were trying to escape in and killed us all."

"I'm a police officer who tried to assist with the rescue effort," said the twelfth man, who introduced himself as Anton Fleigerbauer. "All the others are Israeli athletes."

Louis and Anne were instantly reminded of the four young African-American girls who'd arrived from Birmingham, Alabama nine years previously.

"More innocent victims of circumstance," Louis observed.

On December 26 of that year, former President Harry S. Truman arrived and was greeted by John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, and all his other fellow former Presidents. On January 26 of the following year, less than a month later, Lyndon B. Johnson entered heaven as well. "There's beginning to be quite a crowd of us up here, isn't there?" Lyndon observed.

On March 29, 1973, Louis and Anne watched as the final American soldier left Vietnam. "A long, bloody era has finally came to an end, thank goodness," Louis remarked. Anne nodded solemnly. The past ten years had seen such a large influx of young war casualties that virtually all heaven's female occupants who still lacked romantic partners, including Betsie Ten Boom, Margot Frank, the middle Goebbels daughters, Mary Ingalls, Helen Keller, Emilie Dionne, all four Birmingham, Alabama bombing victims, Janis Joplin, and many, many others who'd lived in various different centuries on earth had found their soul mates from amongst the Vietnam war casualties.

On September 20 of that year, thirty-year-old Jim Croce was killed in an airplane crash and was welcomed into heaven by a group of his contemporaries, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. Less than a year later, on July 29, 1974, Mama Cass Elliot entered heaven after choking to death on a ham sandwich. Having been obese in life, Mama Cass was thrilled to find that in heaven, her body was of average size.

Things were fairly quiet in heaven for the next several years, and then an even more famous musician arrived.


	79. Two Kings Meet

August 26, 1974, saw the arrival of Charles Lindbergh, Sr., who was warmly greeted by his son, Charlie. "Why, you're all grown up now!" Charles Sr. exclaimed. "I always wondered what you would have looked like as an adult."

"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Dad," said Charlie. "So many times I watched you from here, wishing so badly that I could communicate with you, and now I finally can!"

"I only wish your mother could see you as well," Charles, Sr. replied. "She'd be so proud of you."

"Dad, this is Helga Goebbels," Charlie said. "She and I have become very close over the years since we both arrived."

"Why, son, I...but of course!" Charles Sr. laughed in surprise and amazement. "I should have realized that these types of relationships develop up here as well. It's just that I'm so used to remembering you as a little boy, it never even occurred to me that you'd ever become involved in one."

Charlie chuckled lightly. "I'm a man now, Dad. I've been one for quite some time now."

"Of course you are." Charles Sr. patted his son proudly on the shoulder.

"Come on, let me show you around heaven and introduce you to some of my other friends," Charlie said eagerly. Father and son walked away together, never to be separated again.

On the first day of December in 1975, Anna Roosevelt joined her parents, Franklin and Eleanor, in heaven. "It's so nice to see you two happy at last," Anna told her parents. "I know things weren't always so great between you two in life."

"It's too lovely here in heaven to be unhappy about anything that happened on earth," Eleanor replied.

* * *

><p>On January 8, 1935, a newborn boy named Jesse Garon Presley had been carried into heaven by an angel. He'd had a happy childhood in one of heaven's loveliest orphanages, where he'd grown to be a handsome, talented young man, loved by everyone who knew him.<p>

In young adulthood, he'd watched from heaven as his twin brother, Elvis, achieved fame and fortune on earth as a rock musician and actor. For many years, he'd watched wistfully as Elvis recorded hit after hit and appeared on television and in public before screaming fans, most of them female.

It was around that time that he'd met Louis and Anne, who'd been watching along with him as Elvis sang 'Heartbreak Hotel.'

"It should have been me," Jesse said softly with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Anne.

"I should have been the twin who lived," Jesse continued bitterly. "Just look at all those screaming girls. How I wish it were me up there on that stage!"

"But many of the young women here in heaven like you and would be happy to spend time with you," Anne replied. "You're sweet, generous, and sensitive. Here in heaven, those traits are really appreciated."

"It's not the same." Anne could hear the pain in the young man's voice and felt sad for him.

"A lot of what you're seeing is just sex appeal," Louis told Jesse. "There's a big difference between that and real love."

Jesse watched as Elvis bought a mansion in Memphis, Tennessee called Graceland, fleets of expensive automobiles, and thousands of dollars worth of clothing and jewelry. "What I'd give to be able to do all that," Jesse sighed.

"Why, you can have all of that and more right here in heaven, simply for the asking," Louis reminded him.

"It wouldn't be the same." Jesse glared at Louis. "As the grandson of a monarch, you were born into untold wealth. You never knew what it was like to start out poor and grow wealthy as a result of your success."

"Well, neither did you," Anne pointed out.

"But if I'd had the chance to, like my brother did..."

In the late sixties, Elvis married the beautiful Priscilla Beaulieu and soon became the father of a healthy daughter named Lisa Marie. "Well, now he has everything," Jesse said softly.

"That doesn't mean he'll always have it," Anne said. "There was a time in my life on earth when I thought I had everything as well."

Sure enough, the Presley marriage began to crumble in the early seventies. Elvis and Priscilla both had affairs, and they were divorced in 1972. Afterwards, Elvis' health quickly began to deteriorate. He abused drugs and became obese.

On August 16, 1977, Louis and Anne saw Jesse, along with his mother Gladys, who'd arrived a couple of decades previously, watching earth. "He arrives today," Jesse explained to his friends.

The four watched as Elvis collapsed onto his bathroom floor right after noon, and instantly, he appeared standing right beside them.

"Mama!" he exclaimed joyfully, clinging to Gladys as if he'd never let go.

"They were always very close," Jesse explained to Louis and Anne. "It really tore him up when she died."

Finally Elvis turned to Jesse, and the two brothers stood face to face for the very first time. "When you were younger, I always envied you," Jesse told Elvis.

"And I always wished that you'd lived," Elvis replied. "Growing up, I always felt that half of me was missing. What was it like to just always live in heaven?"

"Everything was always just peaceful and happy all the time," Jesse told him. "I never really had any challenges to face or obstacles to overcome, and yet I still always felt that I'd missed out on a lot."

"Maybe so. Maybe not." Elvis grinned. "Anyway, we're together here at last, with Mama, and that's what's important."

"Please, could you perform one of your songs for me?" Anne begged Elvis. "It's one of my favorite songs in the world."

Elvis cocked an eyebrow. "And what song would that be?"

"Can't Help Falling In Love."

Elvis grinned and began to sing the song. Anne grabbed Louis' hands right away, and they began to dance.

"Sing 'Wooden Heart' next!" called a female voice from the audience that had gathered upon Elvis' arrival. Surprised, Louis and Anne turned to see Geli Raubal.

"It's always been one of my favorite songs," Geli continued. "I love both the German and the English versions."

Elvis sang the song, and Geli and the others all applauded.

"Thank you. Thank you very much," Elvis said in his rich, deep, bass voice.


	80. Tragedy In South America

On October 14, 1977, Bing Crosby arrived in heaven and was warmly greeted by a throng of fans, for whom he happily sang 'Don't Fence Me In,' 'Now Is The Hour,' and many other songs. He didn't sing 'White Christmas' as it seemed such a contrast to warm, sunny heaven. Six days later, Steve and Cassie Gaines and Ronnie Van Zant of the group 'Lynard Skynard' entered heaven after their airplane crashed into a tree.

"I always knew I'd never live to see my thirtieth birthday," Ronnie announced as he looked around at the heavenly throng who'd arrived to greet him and his band mates.

"Sing 'Free Bird'!" somebody from the crowd yelled.

"Just give us a moment to get settled first," Ronnie replied. "It's still a bit of a shock to find out we're gonna be performin' for you folks up here instead of the fellas in Baton Rouge."

A new year began, and on September 7, 1978, thirty-two-year-old Keith Moon joined the many other musicians who'd arrived in heaven far before their time after overdosing on sedatives. He was immediately assigned to do penance for having killed his bodyguard, Neil Boland, while driving drunk on January 4, 1970.

On November 18, 1978, Louis and Anne watched as 918 people gathered in a commune in Jones town, Guyana. Their leader, Jim Jones, stood underneath a pavilion upon which sat a huge vat filled with liquid.

"It's time to show your commitment to our cause by joining together in an act of revolutionary suicide," Jones told the hundreds assembled. "If we make this bold move now, we shall all be reincarnated later in a utopian Communist state free of oppression from Capitalists."

Transfixed, Louis and Anne watched as the mass of individuals, many of them babies and children, began to form a line in front of the vat of liquid. The young woman at the front of the line was holding a baby. She filled a syringe with the liquid and squirted it into the baby's mouth. She then took a cup of the liquid and drank it herself before moving aside so that the next person in line could approach the vat.

The adults continued to move forward as if hypnotized, but many of the children cried and attempted to escape. Louis and Anne gasped in horror as they watched adults hold the children down and inject the liquid into them by force. "It's poison!" Anne cried. "They're murdering those children! Oh, I can't watch anymore!"

Louis held her as she began to sob profusely. He himself was unable to tear his eyes away from the tragic scene. The first few individuals who'd partaken of the poison began to stumble and then to fall into a deep sleep from which they'd never awaken on earth. One by one, their souls popped into existence in heaven, until the entire crowd stood there gazing about in puzzled silence.

"Our leader told us we were to be reincarnated," said one man. "Why am I still an adult if I was supposed to be reborn as a baby?"

"Your leader was wrong," Louis said solemnly.

"But I thought that by poisoning my children, I would enable them to enter a glorious world where we could live in peace and no one from the outside would bother us anymore," said one woman, whose lips were trembling. "Do you mean to say that I've just taken my children's lives for nothing?"

"I'm very sorry," Louis told her as she sobbed and held her children close.

Last to arrive was Jim Jones himself, who'd shot himself in the head after conducting the mass suicide.

"You lied to us!" screamed the crowd of new arrivals as the nearest ones jumped on him and began to tear him from limb to limb.

Louis put a protective arm around Anne and led her away from the bloody scene. "I don't think there will be much of him left by the time he has to face the Almighty," he said grimly.

* * *

><p>After the Jones town tragedy, the arrival of Harvey Milk and George Mascone on November 27 seemed almost anticlimactic.<p>

"I was the mayor of San Francisco," George told Louis and Anne. "I was murdered by Dan White because I refused to re-appoint him as supervisor. I wanted someone who's stand was more in line with my liberal agenda."

"I was also a supervisor, and the first openly gay person to be elected to public office," Harvey continued. "During my career, I did everything I could to advance the rights of gays and lesbians in my jurisdiction."

"Just as I did for my own people," said a deep voice beside the two men.

Harvey saw that the man addressing him was none other than Martin Luther King, Jr. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," he said as he and Martin shook hands.

"Welcome to your eternal reward, brother," Martin replied.


	81. Thinking About Elizabeth Again

Louis and Anne spent a good part of the last couple of months of 1978 mingling amongst the scores of Jones town victims, hearing their stories and getting to know them. They found that the majority of them had been ordinary people who'd been looking for direction in their lives and had been drawn into Jim Jones' madness by his charismatic personality and empty promises.

"It just goes to show what happens when people just blindly follow someone who claims to have all the answers instead of thinking for themselves," Anne said to Louis, who agreed.

February 2, 1979, saw the arrival of punk rocker Sid Vicious, who'd overdosed on heroin only several months shy of his twenty-second birthday.

"Twas me own Mum that gave it to me," he told Louis and Anne.

"I don't believe it," said Anne. "How could she have done that?"

In November of that year, Mamie Eisenhower joined her husband Dwight, who'd arrived in March of 1969. On earth a new decade began, and on August 19, 1980, Otto Frank entered heaven and was greeted by his daughters, Margot and Anne, and their soul mates.

"Where's your mother?" he asked.

"She found a man who really loves her," Anne told her father. "She knew that you didn't, and that the two of you weren't soul mates."

Otto looked startled, then relieved. "I'm glad she found someone," he said. I did as well. Her name's Elfriede, and she was our neighbor at one time. I'm sure you remember her daughter, Eva."

"Oh, yes! I remember Eva," Anne replied.

"Her husband and son perished in the march to Mathausen," Otto continued. "She and I were reunited in Amsterdam, then married and moved to Switzerland."

A moment later, Edith Frank arrived with her soul mate, Nicholas Romanov, uncle to the last Tsar. "No hard feelings?" asked Edith.

"No hard feelings," Otto replied, shaking her hand.

* * *

><p>On December 8, 1980, Stu Sutcliffe approached Louis and Anne with a deeply concerned expression on his face. "I fear that the life of my friend John Lennon is in danger," he told them.<p>

Right away they joined him in observing earth, looking down on a starry night in New York City. A man with a gun lurked in the shadows as John Lennon emerged from a building and began to walk down the sidewalk under the street lights. Although he'd changed a bit, Anne recognized him from the Beatles concert she'd attended some sixteen years previously. As the three heavenly observers watched, horrified, shots rang out, and John fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. A few seconds later, he stood beside them, looking bewildered.

"I don't know what happened," he told them. "I'd just finished recording and was on my way home to say good-night to Sean when I heard someone call my name and looked around. I felt just a moment of indescribable pain, then suddenly found myself here. I've had some crazy trips before, but never anything like this."

"Oh, John!" Stu was almost crying as he embraced his friend.

"So that's it, then," John said quietly. "Sean's to grow up without his father just as I did without mine."

"I'm very sorry," said Anne.

John stared at her for a minute. "You're from a long time ago," he finally said.

"I'm Anne Boleyn from the sixteenth century," she told him.

"Oh, yeah. I learned about you in school. Married to Henry VIII, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"I used to be a chauvinist pig back in the days before I met Yoko," John said. "But I was never anything like him."

"Fortunately, few men are."

"You know, I once wrote a song called 'Imagine'," John continued. "The first line goes, 'Imagine there's no heaven.' I'm sure glad I was wrong about that."

"Johnny!" called a woman's voice, and a moment later, she and John were holding one another tightly.

"This is me Mum, Julia," John told his new acquaintances. "She died when I was fifteen. Run over by a drunk driver, she was. Bloke was an off-duty bill and didn't spend a day in jail." John's face was tight with anger.

"I watched as you rose to fame with the Beatles," Julia told her son. "I was so proud of you! You were such a talented artist and musician. I was really touched by the song you wrote for me and wished that I could tell you how much I appreciated it."

"I didn't approve of the way you treated Cynthia, but I was glad to see that Yoko helped you change your ways. You were such a good husband to her, and a wonderful father to Sean, so much more that you'd been to Julian. I know they're going to miss you."

"Yeah," John agreed. "That's what really sucks about dyin,' all the people you leave behind."

"I know, son," said Julia. "I've been there too, y'know."

As the two walked away, a melancholy mood settled over Anne.

"You're thinking about Elizabeth again, aren't you?" Louis asked gently.

"Yeah."

Louis put his arms around her, and she clung to him. After awhile he kissed her forehead. "I know how to cheer you up," he said jovially.


	82. Hungry For Justice

While Louis and Anne were enjoying yet another hot lovemaking session, John Lennon was busily searching for others he'd hoped to meet in heaven. It didn't take him long to run into Elvis Presley.

"Great to see you again, brother!" Elvis exclaimed, clapping John on the shoulder. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Elvis had met all four of the Beatles only once on earth, on August 27, 1965.

"Too long," John agreed. "No one's to blame. Time flies so quickly."

"On earth it does," Elvis agreed. "Up here, we have all the time we need."

"I don't think I ever really got to thank you for the influence you had on me during my younger years," John continued. "If you hadn't become great first, my mates and I may never have become great, either."

"Speaking of influence." Both men turned to see Keith Moon, who'd taken a short break to welcome the new arrival. Having been sentenced to do construction work in heaven as penance for a number of misdeeds in life, the most serious of which had been vehicular manslaughter, Keith had been granted a few minutes to speak with John before he had to return to work.

"I'd like to thank you, John, for the influence you had on me and my band, The Who," Keith continued. "If you guys hadn't started the British invasion back in the sixties, chances are none of the rest of us would have ever gotten anywhere, either."

"Glad we were of assistance." John smiled as he shook the slightly younger man's hand.

* * *

><p>On May 5, 1981, Louis and Anne saw Joseph Plunkett and his wife and soul mate, Grace, who'd arrived in heaven on December 13, 1955, observing earth. "Bobby Sands will be here soon," Joseph told Louis and Anne. "He's another martyr to our cause."<p>

The four looked down on the Maze prison hospital, in which a very emaciated man lay in bed near death. Anne had to gasp at the sight, as she hadn't seen a body as wasted and shriveled as his since the arrival of the Nazi Holocaust victims several decades previously.

Within moments, Bobby Sands stood in heaven, suddenly looking perfectly healthy again.

"Welcome, brother." Joseph smiled at Bobby and extended his hand. "Joseph and Grace Plunkett. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"J-Joseph P-Plunkett?" Bobby stammered in surprise. "One of the original founders of the Irish Republican Army?"

"The very same."

"I'm happy to tell you that your cause didn't die with you," Bobby told Joseph. "I'm only the first of many willing to die for it." He turned to Grace. "I know you must be very proud of him."

"Oh, I am!" Grace exclaimed. "He's the only man I ever loved. I married him when I was twenty-seven years old, and he was executed by firing squad only a few hours later. For forty long years, I lived only for the cause, and for the hope of seeing my Joseph again on the other side. I had no interest in marrying again. For me, no other man could ever compare to my Joseph."

"You can't imagine how happy I was to see her again when she finally arrived," Joseph added. "At long last we were able to consummate the wedding that had taken place forty years before, and believe me, it was worth the wait."

"But don't you ever feel sad about the family life you could have shared on earth, the children you could have had together?" asked Bobby. "I, for one, am certainly going to miss my Geraldine and my little Gerard."

"Sometimes," Grace admitted. "But when I see the ongoing struggle on earth, I know that we are not alone, and that our sacrifice was worth it."

Francis Hughes arrived on May 12, and Raymond MacCreesh and Patsy O'Hara followed on May 21. Joe McDonnell entered heaven on July 8, Martin Hurson on July 13, Kevin Lynch on August 1, Kieran Doherty on August 2, Thomas McElwee on August 8, and Michael Devine on August 20. The hunger strike finally ended on October 3, and many of the survivors were left with permanent disabilities as a result of having gone for so long without food.


	83. Space Shuttle Tragedy

The early 1980's saw a steady trickle of young entertainers who'd died tragic deaths, as well as some older ones who'd died of natural causes, enter heaven's gates. Actor John Belushi arrived on March 5, 1982, yet another victim of a fatal drug overdose.

"Join the club," Janis Joplin said sarcastically, patting him on the shoulder in sympathy.

On February 4, 1983, Karen Carpenter joined the heavenly throng, having succumbed to complications of anorexia.

"In my own time on earth, many of the poor died of starvation during famines," Anne told her. "It would have been unthinkable for someone to deliberately starve themselves when they had access to all the food they could want."

"It's because of the obsession with thinness that's so widespread in American culture today," Karen complained. "Because of all the super skinny actresses and supermodels women see on TV and in magazines, they all think they have to look like that to be beautiful."

"That really is a shame," Louis remarked. "That never happened in my time on earth either. Maybe it's a good thing TV wasn't around back then."

On April 15 of that year, Corrie ten Boom joined her parents and sister in heaven. She received a very warm welcome from all the Jews her family had sheltered during the Holocaust who'd preceded her in death.

A couple of weeks after Corrie's arrival, American blues musician Muddy Waters arrived. He was welcomed by Louis Armstrong, with whom he performed a duet.

On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye entered heaven in shocked disbelief. "He really did it," he told Louis and Anne. "I didn't think he would."

"Who?" asked Anne.

"My Dad," Martin told her. "I was shot to death by my own Dad."

Louis was shocked. "You can't be serious."

"I am serious," Martin said solemnly.

On the twenty-fifth of that month, twenty-eight-year-old David Kennedy joined his father Robert in heaven, having died of a drug overdose. "Dad!" David exclaimed, embracing his father warmly. "I missed you so much! I'm so happy to see you again!"

"I'm glad to see you as well, son, but not under these circumstances," Robert gently reproached his son. "I'd much rather you'd stayed off the drugs and lived your full life span."

On June 11, 1985, thirty-one-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan arrived in heaven looking completely lost and confused. "Man, that was some party!" she exclaimed. "I woke up and...where am I?"

"You've passed over," Anne said gently.

"You mean, I'm dead? But I'm only twenty-two!"

"Actually, you're thirty-one now," Louis told her. "You were in a coma for almost ten years."

"You mean...this isn't 1976 anymore?"

Louis and Anne shook their heads.

"Oh, no!" Karen burst into tears.

"It's all right, sweetheart." Anne laid a comforting hand on her arm. "You're safe here, and nothing bad will ever happen to you again."

On the last day of that year, American rock musician Ricky Nelson entered heaven, the victim of yet another airplane crash. He was greeted by Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, Patsy Cline, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, and the many others who'd shared the same fate.

In late January of the following year, a tragedy of a different kind occurred when the space shuttle _Challenger _disintegrated almost immediately after its take-off and slammed into the Atlantic Ocean below, killing all seven of its crew members. Commander Francis R. Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judith Resnik, and payload specialists Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe arrived in heaven looking dazed and shattered.

"We were all conscious until the cabin hit the water," Christa told Louis and Anne. "We just held onto each other, too scared to say anything. It's the scariest thing in the world to know you're going to die in just a few seconds and there's nothing you can do about it. The worst thing for me is knowing that I'll never see my husband or children or any of my students again." Anne saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"We have wonderful schools here in heaven for those who arrive as children," she told the devastated woman. "I'm sure you'll be able to continue your career as a teacher, if you wish."

"I'd like that very much," Christa agreed. "I only wanted the space shuttle experience for the novelty of it. I've always considered teaching to be my true calling, and it would be fine with me to spend an eternity doing just that."


	84. An Instant Connection

Three more months passed, and on April 24, 1986, Louis and Anne found a tall, slender, serious-looking man watching earth, where a very old, very frail woman lay in bed, barely conscious. "My darling Wallis arrives today," the man told the two. "I gave up the throne of England for her."

As the three of them watched, the woman suddenly appeared in heaven, young, healthy, and beautiful once more. "My Edward!" she exclaimed, rushing into the arms of the man who'd awaited her arrival.

"My Wallis!" Edward clung to her tightly. "It's been almost fourteen long years!"

"And not a single day passed that I didn't think of you," Wallis replied.

"Did he really give up a throne for you?" Louis asked Wallis.

"I begged him not to," Wallis said. "I told him that he should forget about me and choose a wife from amongst the available princesses of Europe, but he told me that he could never love anyone but me."

"He's certainly a different man from my Henry," Anne commented.

"Things were different in your time," Edward reminded her. "The Tudors weren't nearly as secure a dynasty as the Windsors."

"Even if they had been, Henry would have never given up power for love," said Anne.

"What about you?" Edward asked Louis. "Could you have ever loved any woman enough to have given up your throne for her?"

"My situation was totally different from yours," Louis told him. "My wife was chosen for me when I was only fifteen years old. I didn't have the luxury of choosing my own spouse, as you did."

"How did the two of you get together?" Wallis asked Anne. "To me it seems curious that you were born more than two centuries apart yet are obviously so happy together in heaven."

"Having been executed by the order of my own husband, I felt very hurt and betrayed when I first arrived," Anne replied. "For a long time, I thought that perhaps there wasn't a soul mate for me at all, that perhaps, after what I'd been through on earth, I'd never again be capable of loving a man. Year after year, I watched as those separated by death were reunited years later, and those who never found love on earth found it here. After awhile, I began to think that, like so many of them, perhaps I'd simply been unlucky at love on earth, that maybe things would be completely different for me in heaven. As soon as I saw Louis, I felt an instant connection with him and knew that I wanted to be with him more than I'd ever wanted anything else."

"I felt so lost when I first arrived," Louis added. "Having just been put to death by those who'd once been my loyal subjects, I felt betrayed as well. Then I saw Anne, and something about her, her essence, instantly comforted me. Her kindness and compassion made me feel instantly at home here, and since my arrival almost two hundred years ago, I've never wanted anything more than to be by her side."

"Both of you seem so nice," said Wallis. "I'm so glad you found one another at last, even though you, Anne, had to wait so long."

"That's all right," Anne replied. "For me it was all worth it." She planted a passionate kiss on Louis' lips, and he responded in kind. Soon the two of them were once again removing one another's clothing in the palace in Versailles.

* * *

><p>At a discotheque in Tel Aviv, nineteen-year-old Ariel ben Tsion was impressing a group of young women with his repertoire of moves on the dance floor. Ariel, who had no memory of his two previous lifetimes, one as Adolf Hitler and the other as Norman Bernstein, was having the time of his life, so caught up in the moment that he never even noticed the arrival of the sinister dark-haired man with the mustache.<p>

"Death to all infidels!" the Palestinian terrorist shouted, a fraction of a second before the bomb strapped to his body exploded, shattering Ariel and all the other discotheque's occupants into thousands of tiny pieces.

A moment later, Adolf/Norman/Ariel stood blinking before the Almighty. His memories of his previous lifetimes now restored to him, he reflected upon the agony of having just been torn from limb to limb and hoped for mercy.

"I know you think you've suffered greatly," the voice of the Almighty boomed. "But in truth, you've actually only barely scratched the surface. You have much, much more penitence to pay before you're finished."

Adolf/Norman/Ariel quaked in terror.


	85. End Of An Era

The tragic deaths of two child actresses occurred in 1988. On February first of that year, twelve-year-old Heather O'Rourke arrived in heaven, the victim of an obstructed bowel, and on July 25 of that year, ten-year-old Judith Barsi joined her, having been shot to death by her own father. Louis and Anne were saddened by their suffering and were especially kind to them, as they'd been to the Goebbels children more than forty years previously.

A couple of musicians of note also arrived that year. On March 10, thirty-year-old Andy Gibb entered heaven, having died of an inflamed heart caused by an infection brought on by years of abusing cocaine, and on December 6, fifty-two-year-old Roy Orbison arrived, having died of a heart attack. The two were welcomed by the many musicians who'd preceded them in death, and Roy performed several of his greatest hits, including 'Pretty Woman', 'In Dreams', 'It's Over', and 'Running Scared' for millions of heavenly admirers, including, of course, Louis and Anne, who was so deeply moved by 'It's Over' that tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"There's no need to cry!" Louis said cheerfully as he wiped the tears from her eyes. "It isn't over at all!"

"I know." Anne sniffled. "But you know how sad songs make me cry!"

"Oh, yes!" Louis chuckled fondly, remembering how she'd cried when Patsy Cline had sang 'She's Got You' about a quarter of a century or so previously, and how she'd told him the song made her think of Jane Seymour.

On April 26, 1989, a spunky redhead arrived in heaven. She looked about her, amazed, then gazed down at herself. "Why, I'm young again!" she exclaimed. "I must have died and gone to heaven!" Her eyes widened as the truth of her words sunk in, and the next instant, a handsome, dark-complected man approached her.

"My Lucy!" he exclaimed as he embraced her.

"Desi!" she cried happily. "It's been so long, hasn't it?"

"Too long," he agreed.

"Deep down inside, I always regretted the divorce," Lucy said.

"It tore me up inside when I got the papers," Desi replied. "I know I was far from perfect, and maybe I drank too much and ran around a bit, but I always loved you, Lucy. I never stopped loving you, even after we both married other people."

"I never stopped loving you either, Desi, no matter how much you hurt me," said Lucy.

"I'm so sorry about all the times I hurt you," Desi told her. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"I've already forgiven you, a long time ago," Lucy replied.

"This is great!" Desi exclaimed with a smile. "Now we have all of eternity to explore this wonderful heaven together!"

"I can't wait to get started!" Lucy chimed in.

"Sounds like those two really _were _soul mates, after all," despite their differences," Louis remarked.

"I'd have to agree with you there," replied Anne. "And right now, I'd like to do some more exploring of my own." She winked at him as her fingers lightly trailed down the front of his chest, and he grinned and blushed slightly. Even after all these years, he still felt a bit shy about discussing intimate matters.

On November 17 of that year, Tsar Nicholas II and his father, along with all the other members of their family, watched as the Berlin Wall, which had separated East Berlin from West Berlin for twenty-eight years, was torn down. "It looks as if your way of running things wasn't as successful as you though it would be," Nicholas gloated to Vladimir Lenin, who was also looking on.

"You cannot blame me for the incompetence of my successors," Lenin retorted. "And even with his faults, you have to admit that Stalin did succeed in turning a very primitive nation into one of the most modernized and advanced countries of the word, as well as a military superpower. That never would have happened if your dynasty had endured."

"You don't know that that would have been the case at all," Nicholas argued. "Look how far the United Kingdom has come, and its monarchy is still in place. But it doesn't really matter now, as the curse of Communism which you and your followers inflicted upon my beloved homeland and its neighbors is finally coming to an end." Tears came to his eyes as he recalled the Russia of his childhood and young adulthood.

"But what will it be replaced with?" asked Lenin.

Nicholas had no answer for him.


	86. Two Hundred Years Together

On May 18, 1990, Louis and Anne watched as a very attractive petite blonde entered heaven alone. "It's so good to be healthy again!" she said with a smile. "I was sick with cancer for six years," she explained to Louis and Anne. "This is the first time I've been healthy since 1984."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Anne exclaimed. "By the way, I'm Anne Boleyn, and this is Louis XVI."

"European royalty from past centuries, how nice!" the newcomer exclaimed. "I'm Jill Ireland, actress and wife of Charles Bronson...and ex-wife of David McCallum."

"Oh." Anne didn't know what else to say.

"David was my first love," Jill continued. "I met him in the mid-fifties, when we starred in several movies together. We married and had two sons together, and adopted a third. Then in the sixties, he played a Russian spy named Illya Kuryakin in the TV series 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.' There were a couple of episodes where I starred opposite him as a woman named Marion Raven whom he rescued from an evil organization." Jill sighed. "He was so romantic! So sweet and charming, and so kind. I thought we'd always be together, but then I met Charles Bronson and became so infatuated with him that I left the man I thought I'd love forever for him. I really broke poor David's heart. Much later I had second thoughts about my choice, but by then it was too late, as he was already happily married to someone else. Serves me right, I guess."

"Everyone makes mistakes," said Anne. "I've sure made my share."

"So have I," added Louis.

Just then a young man came up to Jill and embraced her, greeting her enthusiastically.

"This is my adopted son, Jason," Jill told Louis and Anne. "I lost him a year ago to a drug overdose."

"Another happy reunion," Louis remarked with a smile.

Almost a year and a half later, on November 21, 1991, musician Freddy Mercury entered heaven, having succumbed to complications of HIV. The now numerous rock musicians who'd entered heaven greeted him warmly.

On June 22, 1992, Louis and Anne found former Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra observing Yekaterina, Russia, on earth.

"I told the girls and Alexei to stay away," Alexandra told Louis and Anne.

"I begged Sunny not to watch either, but she insists that she has to see," Nicholas added.

Curious, Louis and Anne joined the former royal couple in observing the excavation of nine skeletons from a shallow grave. As the remains were retrieved, the workers commented on their discoveries.

"Look at all the fancy dental work on this one," one worker remarked, holding up a skull. "That's _gotta _be the Tsarina, for sure."

"I remember all those trips to the dentist..." Alexandra began to cry softly, and her husband attempted to comfort her. "Darling, I _told _you it would be a bad idea for you to watch."

Louis and Anne looked at one another. "I'm sure glad _I _was never exhumed," Louis said.

"I feel the same way," Anne agreed. "It has to be the weirdest feeling in the world to watch your own bones being dug up."

"And those of your spouse and children," Louis added. "But at least this way, they can finally have a proper Christian burial at a later date."

* * *

><p>On January 21, 1993, Louis and Anne celebrated their two hundredth anniversary by visiting the city of New Orleans in the state that had been named for Louis, Louisiana. Completely unnoticed, they joined the throngs of sightseers milling up and down Bourbon Street.<p>

"So much has changed since our last vacation on earth," Anne remarked as a motorcycle sped by, splashing water from a rain puddle onto them.

"Indeed it has," Louis agreed. "I've never seen people dressed so strangely. In many cases, it's hard to tell whether they're a man or a woman."

"The hair styles as well," Anne added as they passed a couple of oddly-dressed young men, both of whom sported multi-colored mohawks.

"One would indeed wonder what the world is coming to." Louis looked just a tad worried.

"I think it's great!" Anne enthused. "So much variety...so many styles to choose from..."

"It quite makes my head spin." Louis chuckled. "But there's one thing that will always stay the same."

"And what's that?"

"The passion I feel for you, _mi amour." _

As it so happened, at that moment, they were standing right beside an eighteenth century brothel.

Anne raised her eyebrows. "Shall we?"

Louis laughed. "Why not?"

Within moments, they were inside the brothel's fanciest bedroom, shedding their clothing, each one lovingly exploring the body they knew so well yet never tired of discovering all over again.


	87. Such A Tragic Year

On April 5, 1994, a young man with straggly blond hair and soulful blue eyes arrived in heaven. "Well, I finally did it," he told Louis and Anne. "I tried it once before, with pills, but it didn't work. I used a gun this time, because I wanted to make sure I did it right."

"But you're so _young!" _Anne exclaimed. "Surely you had reasons to live!"

"I _hated _my life!" Kurt Cobain exclaimed. "All I wanted to do was to make music and live my life peacefully with Courtney and Frances, but with all the fame and glory came all the pressure. I couldn't do anything anymore without crowds of people following me around, wanting my autograph. I couldn't have any privacy at all anymore. That was why I got into the drugs, because I just couldn't take all the pressure anymore. I tried giving them up a few times, but it never lasted. At last I decided that there was only one way out, and I was going to take it."

"But what about Courtney and Frances?" asked Anne.

Kurt began to cry. "I'm sure gonna miss them," he said. "But it's best this way."

"That's so sad." Louis shook his head as he and Anne watched the young man join several other musicians.

_"Very _sad," Anne agreed.

Two and a half weeks later, on April 22, Richard Nixon entered heaven, and almost exactly a month later, on May 19, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis arrived, and was warmly greeted by both her previous husbands and her two children who'd preceded her in death.

Less than a month after that, a tragedy occurred that would completely occupy the news media of the United States for many months afterwards.

* * *

><p>On June 12, 1994, a blonde woman and a dark-haired man entered heaven together. "I'm Nicole Brown Simpson, and this is my friend, Ron Goldman," the woman told Louis and Anne. "We were murdered by my ex-husband, O.J. Simpson. He broke into the place where we were staying and stabbed us to death. It was terribly painful. I begged him to think of our kids, but he wouldn't listen. I sure hope they catch him soon. What if he hurts them too?"<p>

"It looks like you're about to get your wish," Louis, who was closely observing Los Angeles, commented dryly. Anne and the two newcomers joined him in watching as the police chased after a van that was desperately speeding away from the crime scene. The van was quickly overtaken, and within minutes, O.J. Simpson emerged from it with his hands over his head. The police quickly cuffed him and drove away with him.

"Well, there goes his acting career," Nicole commented. "He played professional football for years and then became an actor, but it looks like it's all over with now. Serves him right. He should have thought about that before he did what he did."

On October 25 of that year, an event occurred which wasn't nearly as well publicized but was equally tragic, if not even more so. Louis and Anne watched as Anne's angel friend, Hope, arrived carrying one little boy and leading another by the hand. The older one looked to be about three, and the younger one looked to be about a year and a half old.

"This is Michael and Alex Smith," Hope told Louis and Anne. "Their mother drowned them. She got out of the car and let the car roll into the lake with them strapped into the back seat."

"How horrible!" Anne exclaimed. "Why would she do such a thing?"

"She wanted to marry a man who didn't want her children, and she thought that if she got rid of them, he'd marry her," Hope replied. "And that's not even the worst of it. Right now she's trying to persuade the police that a strange man stole her car at a traffic light and drove away with her children. She thinks they're going to believe her."

"That's insane," said Anne. "Just look at little Michael. He's just about exactly the same age Elizabeth was when I had to leave her."

Louis shook his head helplessly. "There sure are some messed up people in the world. If that's not proof, then I don't know what is."

Anne thought of Colette MacDonald and her three children, all of whom had grown to be beautiful, happy adults in heaven. It made her feel much better to realize that the same would be true of Michael and Alex Smith.

Toward the end of the year, on November 28, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer arrived, having been murdered by a fellow inmate.

"That was pretty fast-acting karma," Louis observed.

"I'd really hate to see what his penance is going to be," added Anne.

"Nineteen ninety-four has been such a tragic year, hasn't it?" said Louis. "I think I've seen more young people die in tragic ways this past year that I've seen in a very long time."

"It certainly has been," Anne agreed. "I can only hope next year isn't quite as bad."


	88. A Lovely Day For Horseback Riding

Contrary to Anne's wishes, the following year didn't start out well at all, as serial killer Fred West arrived on the first day of January, to immediately be confronted by his victims, two of whom had been his own daughters and one of whom had been his wife. The Almighty was enraged, and Fred was immediately sent back to earth to pay a terrible penance. He would be reborn into a life in which he would endure much suffering.

Later that same month, Kennedy family matriarch Rose arrived, having lived to be 104 years old. "If that wasn't a life filled with tragedy, I don't know what is," Anne remarked as Rose's four children and several grandchildren who'd preceded her in death greeted her warmly.

"She certainly saw much more than her fair share of heartbreak while alive on earth," Louis agreed. "And now she gets her reward in finally being able to see them again. It reminds me so of how I felt when I first saw my dear Joseph and Sophie again upon my own arrival."

"And myself as well, when I first met the children I'd miscarried while on earth," Anne added.

The last day of March of that year saw the arrival of twenty-three-year-old Selena Quintanilla-Perez, who looked around in first surprise, then devastation. "I can't believe she really did it!" the young woman sobbed. "I knew she was a thief, but I didn't think she'd actually shoot me! She was the president of my fan club! I _trusted _her!"

Anne embraced Selena and comforted her. "You have to be very careful about who you trust," she said. "I was killed by someone whom I had not only trusted, but had at one time loved dearly."

The month of April brought a large-scale tragedy of a different sort, as on the nineteenth of that month, 168 people entered heaven as a result of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma. Men, women, and children gazed around themselves in wonder and more than a little trepidation.

"I have no idea what happened," one man said. "I'd just started my workday when I suddenly found myself here. Does this mean I'll never see my wife and children again?" His voice trembled.

"You'll see them again," Louis said solemnly. "It may be many years from now, but you will see them again someday."

The man began to sob, and many of those around him began to cry as well.

The summer and autumn of 1995 passed peacefully, but on November 4 of that year, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin arrived in heaven, looking a bit dazed.

"I'm disappointed, but not really surprised," he told Louis and Anne. "I know that many of my people were against the signing of the Oslo Accords. They thought that I was being spineless and cowardly by trying to make peace with the Palestinians, but I only wanted all the fighting and bloodshed to stop. If what I've done has accomplished that goal, then to me it's worth it."

"You're not alone," said a voice near Yitzhak. He turned to see John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln standing right beside him.

"We both also died for what we believed in," Kennedy said to Yitzhak.

"I think the three of them are always going to be very good friends," Louis said to Anne.

"They do have a lot in common," Anne agreed.

On April 28, 1996, 35 bewildered Australians entered heaven, the victims of a mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania. They ranged in age from 72-year-old David Martin and Russell James Pollard to three-year-old Madeline Grace Mikac.

"Another nut case who never should have had access to a gun," Louis grumbled. He and Anne were both sick of the needless slaughter they'd witnessed on earth over the past half century, so much so that they both watched earth with dread as well as fascination now.

On Christmas day of that year, a beautiful little blonde girl arrived in heaven looking very sad. The angel who escorted her introduced her as JonBenet Ramsey and told Louis and Anne that she'd been beaten and strangled to death.

"The arrivals of children are always the very saddest to me," Louis said gravely. "Although they always have very happy lives growing up here, I just can't help but think of all they might have accomplished on earth if they'd lived."

He looked so sad that Anne gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek for comfort. They both watched JonBenet's sadness turn to joy as she was joined by the two youngest Port Arthur victims, sisters named Alannah and Madeline, and the three little girls skipped to heaven's nearest park together.

"Come on." Louis was suddenly in a much better mood as he took Anne's hand. "It's a lovely day for horseback riding."

"It is," Anne agreed. "And maybe we could have a picnic in the park afterwards."

Louis grinned. "That sounds like a great idea to me."


	89. A King, A Queen, And A Princess

Louis and Anne made their way to the heavenly stables, where Anne chose a white mare to ride. Louis helped her onto the horse's back, then chose a brown stallion for himself. As they rode along with the wind blowing through their hair and the horse's manes, they passed Tecumseh and Elizabeth headed in the opposite direction and shouted their greetings.

"We're going to the park for a picnic later," Anne called to her daughter. "Would you like to join us?"

"Sure!" Elizabeth agreed after exchanging a quick glance with Tecumseh.

Alannah and Madeline Mikac and JonBenet Ramsey were playing on the slide when Anne, Louis, Elizabeth, and Tecumseh arrived at the park themselves several hours later.

"They look so happy, don't they?" Anne remarked.

"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have had children myself," Elizabeth said wistfully as she glanced at Tecumseh.

"Heaven is the place for second chances," he said as he reached over and took her hand. "So many children arrive here without parents. It's good that heaven has such an abundance of loving adults who are willing to step in and give them the support they need to reach adulthood."

The four glanced over to where Alannah and Madeline's mother, who'd arrived with them, was pushing her daughters on the swings, while Amy Dudley pushed JonBenet on her swing.

"It's lovely how it all somehow works out, isn't it?" Louis remarked.

On March 26, 1997, 39 adult Americans dressed in identical black shirts, sweat pants, and black-and-white Nike shoes entered heaven. Upon their arrival, they all began to cheer and whoop enthusiastically, jumping up and down and hugging one another. "We made it!" one man exclaimed.

"I don't remember the ride." A woman looked a bit worried.

"Ride?" Louis cocked an eyebrow.

"The spacecraft trailing the comet Hale-Bopp," the woman explained. "Do told us that it was the only way to evacuate earth for a level of existence above the human one." She pronounced it 'doe'.

"Do?"

"I'm Do," said a partially bald elderly man with crazed eyes. "And these are my fellow ancient astronauts, those select few members of the human race who have been chosen to advance to the ranks of flying saucer crews."

"But there are no flying saucers here," Louis told him.

"Then this must not be our ultimate destination," Do replied, unfazed. "This must be simply a step along the way. When we reach our true destination, we will see them."

"I don't really care all that much about flying saucers anymore," said the woman who'd spoken before. "I really like this place. It's far lovelier than earth ever was. To stay right here for all of eternity would be just fine with me." Her companions looked at her as if they thought she was crazy.

"But don't you want to advance to the next level?" one of them asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, this _is _the next level," the woman replied. "Everyone I've seen here so far looks so happy that it must be a wonderful place to live."

"I feel sorry for you," another of her companions told her.

"There's no reason for you to," she replied.

On August 31 of that year, a very frightened blue-eyed blonde arrived in heaven. "My God, what happened?" she asked. "We were speeding through the tunnel trying to get away from the paparazzi when I felt a terrific jolt and then suddenly found myself here." She turned to look back at the earth, and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh, no!" she cried as she began to sob profusely.

Louis and Anne looked along with her and saw the remains of a black car that had been shattered beyond recognition.

Louis whistled. "There's no way anyone could have survived _that."_

"And yet my bodyguard is still alive," the new arrival told him. "Seriously injured, but alive. I do hope he pulls through." Somewhat calmer now, she extended her hand to Louis. "I'm Diana, Princess of Wales and mother of the future King of England."

"It's an honor to meet you," Louis replied. "I'm Louis XVI of France, and this is Anne Boleyn."

"Anne Boleyn!" Diana exclaimed. "Your daughter was one of the greatest rulers my country has ever known."

"As I'm sure your son shall be," Anne said with a smile.

"It hurts me to have left my sons so soon," Diana said sadly. "My Will is only fifteen, and Harry not quite thirteen. They'll have to finish growing up without me."

"As my Elizabeth had to finish growing up without me," Anne replied.

"Yet look what a fine Queen she turned out to be!" Diana exclaimed.

"As I'm sure your Will shall be a fine King some day."

"He certainly has a long time to wait," Diana remarked wryly.

Sensing that Anne would like some time to get better acquainted with Diana alone, Louis went to visit with Charles II of England and Nicholas II of Russia.


	90. Skiers And Vegetarians

After the large amount of fanfare surrounding the arrival of Princess Diana, that of Mother Teresa on September 5 was a relatively quiet affair. No throngs of screaming fans or tearful family members awaited her appearance as the 87-year-old woman quietly stepped inside heaven's entrance. Louis and Anne, however, did great her warmly, as did Diana herself.

"I've always admired you," the younger woman told the nun. "To have chosen a life of poverty and obscurity, to have given up the love of a husband and children to devote your life to helping those less fortunate, is something to be proud of. You made a tremendous sacrifice, and I'm sure you'll be richly rewarded here."

"Unlike you, I never desired money or fame, or the love of a man," Mother Teresa replied. "All I ever wanted was to help the world's poorest and most deprived citizens. I admired you as well. Your efforts to help the victims of landmines deeply impressed me. It showed me that you hadn't let all the fame and glory diminish your compassion for the unfortunate."

"You know, I think that perhaps deep down inside, you and I are more alike than one would originally suspect," Diana suggested.

"I think that perhaps you're right," Mother Teresa said with a smile. As it turned out, the Princess and the commoner, who'd been born more than fifty years apart, became very good friends in heaven.

On December 18 of that year, 38-year-old Chris Farley entered heaven, the victim of a cocaine and morphine overdose. He was greeted by his fellow Saturday Night Live actor John Belushi.

On the last day of 1997, Michael Kennedy, son of Robert and brother of David, arrived in heaven, the victim of a skiing accident. "If you'd been wearing a helmet, you'd still be alive," his father scolded him.

"You know how we Kennedys tend to throw caution to the wind sometimes," Michael replied.

"Yeah, and look where it's gotten us so far," David said gloomily.

"I don't imagine any of my siblings or cousins will learn anything from my mistake," Michael told his father and brother.

A new year arrived, and on January 5, 1998, another skiing accident victim entered heaven. "Gotta watch those trees," Michael Kennedy told him.

"Yeah, I sure learned that the hard way," Sonny Bono replied, rubbing his head.

On April 17 of that year, a slender blue-eyed blonde arrived. "Linda!" John Lennon exclaimed. "How's Paul?"

"He's doing all right, considering," Linda replied. "He's going to miss me very much, of course, as I shall miss him, but he has our children to comfort him, and George and Ringo, of course."

"I always felt very badly about the differences between us that caused the break-up of the Beatles," John told Linda McCartney. "But I never stopped loving him."

"He still loves you as well," said Linda. "He wrote a song for you back in 1982. It's called 'Here Today.' Have you heard it?"

"I have," John told her. "And it really touched me."

"I sure hope they find a cure for breast cancer soon." Linda looked to see who had spoken and saw that it was Jill Ireland. "Then other women won't have to suffer as you and I did," Jill continued.

"Another thing I'd dearly love to see is if all of humanity stopped slaughtering animals for food and were content to eat vegetables and grains instead," Linda replied. "Humans were never meant to be carnivores, anyway." Many of heaven's occupants, especially those who'd belonged to the Eastern religions while on earth, cheered in agreement.

"Could you please show me the way to the stables?" Linda asked Louis, who was standing nearby.

"Certainly!" Louis replied. "Right this way. I think we've just acquired a new horseback riding partner," he added to Anne.

On May 14, almost exactly a month later, another singer, Frank Sinatra, arrived. He was greeted warmly by Bing Crosby. At the request of his fans, he sang 'Strangers in the Night,' 'Summer Wind,' Fly Me To The Moon,' 'My Way,' and 'New York, New York.'

Exactly two weeks later, on May 28, Phil Hartman arrived after being shot to death by his wife, Brynn, who joined him several hours later. "That wasn't exactly a match made in heaven, was it?" Louis quipped, as Phil was greeted by his fellow Saturday Night Live actors, John Belushi and Chris Farley.

On July 6 of that year, Sandy, Debbie, and Robin Rogers greeted their father, Roy, upon his entrance into heaven. "It's so good to see the three of you well and happy!" Roy told his children. "And what beautiful women you two grew up to be!" he continued to his daughters. He took Robin's hands into his own and gazed into her eyes. "I can hardly believe it!" he exclaimed. "The last time I saw you, you were only two years old!"

The Rogers children introduced their father to their respective soul mates, and the entire group enjoyed a happy reunion. "Scenes like that still cause me to get a lump in my throat even after all these years," Louis remarked.

"I know exactly what you mean," Anne replied.

Eleven days later, a bittersweet event occurred as Tsar Nicholas II and his family watched as their remains were laid to their final resting place in the St. Catherine Chapel in St. Petersburg. "It's finally over, Sunny," Nicholas said tenderly to his wife.

"After all these years," Alexandra agreed.

In the early morning of October 12, a terrified young man entered heaven, shaking in fear. "Please stop hitting me!" he cried.

Right away Anne went to him and put her arms around him. "Nobody's going to beat you anymore," she told him. "You're safe here."

The young man immediately became much calmer and glanced around himself in confusion. "Where am I?" he asked.

"Heaven," Anne told him.

"You mean...I died?" He sounded near panic.

"Yes, you did," Anne said gently.

"But I'm only twenty-one!" He looked greatly distressed.

"It's all right," said Anne. "You're safe now. Nobody can ever hurt you again. What's your name?"

"Matthew. Matthew Shepard."

"It's nice to meet you, Matthew. I'm Anne Boleyn, and this is Louis XVI."

Matthew's eyes grew round with wonder. "Wow! Real historical figures, huh?"

Louis laughed. "There are a lot of us up here."


	91. The London Eye

With the resilience of youth, Matthew Shepard quickly adjusted to his new home. A new year rolled around, and on April 30, 1999, fifteen American teenagers entered heaven, most of them looking completely devastated. In contrast, the two young men who arrived last looked grim and sullen. The Almighty addressed them sternly.

"I am the giver of life, and I'm the only One who has the right to take it," He roared. "Nothing in the world could have justified the taking of these thirteen innocent lives. Your punishment will be very severe."

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold both paled and quaked with fear as they faced the One who had created them, and with a mighty clap of thunder, the two vanished as they were sent to their punishments below. The remaining teens milled about looking bewildered. Every so often, one gave a cry of recognition at the appearance of a grandparent or other relative who'd preceded them in death, until gradually the entire group was integrated into heaven's general population.

Anne and Louis stood to the side with many others, looking on sadly. "I used to be so proud of this great country I helped to create," Louis remarked. "But now it's no longer safe to attend school there."

"That's a real shame," Anne agreed with a sigh.

Almost exactly a month later, thirty-four-year-old Canadian wrestler Owen Hart entered heaven, the victim of a freak accident, and the following July, John Kennedy and Jacqueline Onassis were at heaven's gates to welcome their thirty-eight-year-old son, John, Jr., into the afterlife. He was accompanied by his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren.

"I never expected to see you here so soon," John, Sr., told his son mournfully. "I was counting on you to carry on my legacy on earth. Now the only future children with the Kennedy name will be the descendants of my brothers Robert and Ted. How could you have taken such a chance?"

"I'm sorry, Dad." John, Jr. was very penitent. "I really thought I could fly that airplane safely. I realize now that I greatly overestimated my ability."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now," John, Sr. sighed. "Come on, let me show you three around heaven."

"I don't believe I've ever seen a more tragic family than that one," Louis remarked as the group walked away.

"Neither have I," Anne replied. "Not in over four hundred years, although I suppose the Romanovs would come close."

On earth a new century arrived, and with it, one of the most remarkable structures ever invented was assembled on the south bank of the Thames river in London. Louis and Anne watched from heaven as the giant Ferris wheel that would come to be known as the London Eye was constructed on earth.

"Oh, how I wish Ferris wheels had existed during my lifetime on earth!" Anne exclaimed.

"Would you like to go for a ride on that one?" Louis' eyes were twinkling.

"Oh, yes! Shall we?"

The two arrived on earth as the attraction opened for riders on February first. As they were invisible to all of earth's living occupants, they had to neither wait in line nor pay a fare. To their surprise, they noticed that they weren't the only occupants of heaven to visit earth to ride the wheel, as they looked around and saw Elizabeth and Tecumseh, Nicholas and Alexandra, Alexei and Geli, and many other couples they recognized. Many were accompanied by children, and some of the Columbine victims were there as well, as were Matthew Shepard and his own soul mate.

As they stood holding hands and gazing outside onto the city of London while the passenger capsule they occupied moved gently upward, anyone seeing them would have easily mistaken Anne and Louis for a typical sightseeing couple. Anne's eyes were wide with delight as she clasped Louis' hand, both of them looking on in silent wonder as more and more of the city came into view.

At the very top, they turned to one another and kissed with utter abandon, and as the capsule began its descent, they continued to caress one another lovingly. By the time it reached the bottom, they both knew exactly what they wanted to do first thing upon their return to heaven.


	92. Terror From The Sky

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Louis and Anne watched in open-mouthed disbelief as two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, another crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed into grassland in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. One by one, nearly three thousand new souls blinked into existence inside heaven's gates.

Unlike most of the new arrivals, who were manifesting the shock and confusion typical of those who'd suddenly found themselves in heaven unexpectedly, nineteen young men began to march around chanting jubilantly. "Death to all infidels! Death to Israel! Death to America! Long live Islam!"

"Shut up!" the Almighty screamed furiously at them.

"Oh mighty and gracious Allah, we are your true and faithful servants," one of the nineteen said as he bowed respectfully before the Eternal Being. "My brothers and I have given our lives in an act of holy jihad, and we are now ready to meet our seventy-two virgins and partake of the pleasures of Paradise."

"How dare you address Me so, and make such assumptions!" the Almighty roared. "You nineteen murderers have just committed one of the most heinous acts of all time, and you shall all suffer greatly for the innocent lives you've taken and the destruction you've caused."

The nineteen young men looked at each other in dismay which quickly changed to abject fear as the ground beneath them opened up and they all instantly vanished.

The remaining newcomers were men, women and children of all ages from over ninety different countries. The vast majority of them were Americans. Anne looked at Louis to see that, to her surprise, he was sobbing.

"I helped to create this country," he said. "And just look at the mess it's in now!"

"I know it looks bad right now, but it could have been much worse." Anne put her arms around him and comforted him. "Japan lost many, many more of its citizens when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, and you see how well it has recovered. The United States will also recover from this."

Louis, Anne, and many others spent the next few days getting to know some of the many victims, which included an author, a sitcom creator, a Canadian hockey player, an FBI agent, and a political commentator. Anne was correct, and the United States did eventually recover from the attacks, although many grieved for a very long time afterwards. Over time, the many victims also adjusted to their new lives and became happy, productive citizens of heaven.

* * *

><p>After the large influx of new souls on September 11, the quiet entrance of George Harrison on November 29 of that year seemed almost anti-climactic. John Lennon, Stu Sutcliffe, and Linda McCartney were all there to meet him.<p>

"Welcome to the afterlife, little brother," John said as he shook his fellow musician's hand. "It's great to see you again."

"It's great to see you again as well," George replied. "Although to be honest, I expected to be reborn again on earth as an infant."

"You let yourself be influenced too greatly by those Hindus," John reprimanded him. "They don't have the monopoly on truth. It probably would even have been OK for you to have kept eating meat."

"No it wouldn't have!" Linda's eyes blazed angrily.

"Many restaurants up here serve meat for those who were accustomed to eating it on earth," John pointed out.

"And I refuse to frequent them," Linda replied.

John shrugged. "That's your choice."

"I'm not very hungry right now anyway," said George. "It just feels so good not to be suffering from cancer anymore."

* * *

><p>The following year saw the arrival of two members of the British royal family, Princess Margaret on February ninth, and the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, on March 30. Margaret was greeted warmly by her father, King George VI, who'd died in 1952, and when her mother arrived less than two months later, the three of them shared a happy reunion.<p>

"Our daughter has certainly turned out to be a fine Queen," George said to his wife. "I'm so very proud of her."

"As am I," the Queen Mother agreed. "And how are you, dear?" she continued to Princess Diana, who'd also come to greet her.

"Heaven is lovely," Diana replied. "I've enjoyed getting to know my brother John, who died before I was born, very much, but I still dearly miss my sons."

"And they miss you as well," her former grandmother-in-law told her. "But never mind. We shall all be together again someday."


	93. Musicians, Actors, And Royalty

Many lesser-known, but no less virtuous, souls entered heaven on a regular basis over the remainder of that year, and on January 12, 2003, musician Maurice Gibb joined his brother Andy in the afterlife. "It's been so very long since I saw you last!" Maurice exclaimed as the two brothers embraced warmly.

"Fifteen years," Andy agreed. "I've watched my daughter Peta Jaye grow into a lovely young woman from here. How I wish I could have been there for her during the years she was growing up! How are our brothers?"

"They're mostly well, although I'm sure they'll miss me dearly, as I shall miss them," Maurice replied.

The following month, Presbyterian minister and entertainer of children Fred Rogers arrived in heaven, and six months later, actor Charles Bronson was reunited with his wife, Jill Ireland.

On September 11 of that year, exactly two years after one of the most tragic terrorist attacks in history, actor John Ritter entered heaven alone, the victim of a torn aorta.

That year also saw the arrival of two country music legends, June Carter Cash on May 15 and Johnny Cash on September 12.

"I knew I wouldn't have to wait terribly long for you to join me," June said to her husband.

"Ever since you passed, I counted the days until I could be with you again," Johnny replied. "We were always together in life, and now we'll always be together in the afterlife as well."

"And we'll never have to say good-bye to each other again!" June exclaimed happily.

"That's the way it is with true soul mates," Louis said to Anne.

"If we'd been together while living on earth and had lived out our lives and died of natural causes, I'd imagine our story would have been very similar to theirs," Anne replied.

On August 26, 2004, singer Laura Branigan entered heaven, and on October 10 of that year, actor Christopher Reeve arrived.

"It's so great to be able to walk again!" he exclaimed. He'd suffered a horse riding accident and been paralyzed from the neck down for the last few years of his life.

In April of 2005, Pope John Paul II arrived, and four days later, Prince Ranier III of Monaco joined his wife, Princess Grace, who'd been in heaven since 1982.

On March 6, 2006, Christopher Reeve's wife, Dana, joined him in heaven, having succumbed to lung cancer at the age of forty-four. Although saddened to have left her young son so early, she was thrilled to see her husband once again restored to perfect health.

Later that same year, Louis and Anne took another trip to earth in the company of yet another new arrival.


	94. Visiting A Zoo

"Crikey!" exclaimed the husky middle-aged man who entered heaven on September 4, 2006. "That hurt!"

"What happened?" asked Anne.

"A stingray got me!" the man told her. "I was filming it and it attacked me. Got me right in the heart."

"How horrid!" exclaimed Anne.

"I dunno," the newcomer said thoughtfully. "Worse ways to go, I guess. At least I died doing what I love most."

"So you were a producer of wildlife films," Louis guessed.

"I was much more than that!" the new arrival replied. "My main mission in life was teaching people about animals and how they live and how best to take care of them. That was all that really mattered. M'name's Steve Irwin, but they call me 'The Crocodile Hunter.'"

"Hunting crocodiles sounds quite dangerous," Louis remarked.

"In general, if ya leave wild things alone, they'll leave you alone," Steve replied. "That stingray mistook me for a shark, that's all. It was nothing personal."

"You said you owned a zoo?" asked Anne.

"I sure do! The Australia Zoo in Beerwah. Wanna go there now?"

"That sounds like fun," said Louis.

Within seconds, the three of them were standing at the entrance to the zoo. Casually they strolled right past the mobs waiting to buy tickets and be admitted.

"Crikey, it's just like I'm invisible!" Steve was bewildered.

Louis and Anne both laughed. "You'll get used to it," Anne said.

First they went to the Crocoseum. "Well, looky here!" said Steve. "Show's about to start right now!"

The three enjoyed a brief demonstration of trained crocodiles doing tricks, then moved on to the African Safari exhibit, which featured zebras, rhinos, giraffes, and cheetahs. Next was the Tiger Temple, then Elephantasia, where they watched elephants wade in a pool and even fed them. Although they were invisible to living humans, the elephants seemed to know that they were there and came to them for food. Afterwards, they walked through the Rainforest Aviary, which Anne especially enjoyed.

"Thank you for an enjoyable excursion," Louis said to Steve when they were finished.

"Anytime, m'mate," Steve replied. The three returned to heaven, where Steve was thrilled to meet Charles Darwin. The two of them were soon involved in an animated discussion about how all the many species of animals on earth had evolved.

* * *

><p>On September 17 of that year, Patricia Kennedy Lawford joined her parents Joseph and Rose and her siblings Joseph, John, Robert, Rosemary, and Kathleen in heaven. Almost a month later, on October 14, musician Freddy Fender arrived, and the day after Christmas, former American President Gerald Ford entered heaven.<p>

A new year started, and February 8, 2007 saw the reunion of thirty-nine-year-old Anna Nicole Smith with her twenty-year-old son, Daniel. "I'd just given birth to my daughter three days earlier," Anna told Louis and Anne. "I saw him sitting in a chair and thought he was asleep, but I couldn't wake him up. I called for a doctor, but they couldn't save him. I named my new daughter 'Dannielynn' after him."

"Now Mom and I will watch her grow up together from here," Daniel added.

Others who arrived that year included minister Jerry Falwell and Lady Bird Johnson, who joined her husband, former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who'd arrived in 1973. On November 30, daredevil Evel Knievel celebrated his entry into heaven by riding a motorcycle up a ramp and sailing over a row of parked cars, to the amazement of Louis and Anne.


	95. The Moonwalk

Louis and Anne soon became good friends with Steve Irwin, as they both found his enthusiasm and vivaciousness attractive. One day the conversation turned to the subject of the children Steve had left behind on earth.

"Bindi's only eight, and Bob's just three," he told his new friends. "I love them so much, and I wanted very badly to be there for them as they were growing up. Now they will have only memories."

"At least they have a loving mother who will keep you alive for them in their hearts," Anne replied. "Elizabeth was not quite three when I was taken away from her, and I had no such comfort."

"Yeah, I suppose your situation was a bit worse, wasn't it?" Steve observed.

"Marie-Therese was fifteen, and Charles was just eight, when they lost their mother and me," Louis put in. "They had their Aunt Elizabeth to keep my memory alive for them, so I suppose my situation was more similar to yours, Steve."

"Yet here in heaven, I've been able to more than make up for all the years I lost with Elizabeth," Anne added.

"As have I with all four of my children, the two who preceded me into the afterlife and the two who came afterwards," said Louis.

"I very much hope that both my children live long, happy lives on earth," Steve said. "But when they do enter heaven many years from now, I'll be the first one to welcome them."

On April 5, 2008, Charlton Heston entered heaven, to be greeted by none other than Moses himself. "What an honor!" Charlton exclaimed.

"When I heard that the man who portrayed me in 'The Ten Commandments' was due to arrive today, I knew that I had to meet you," the Biblical patriarch replied. "And I have to say, of all the various portrayals of me that have existed since plays began to be performed many centuries ago, yours was the one I liked best."

"It thrills me to the bone to hear you say that," Charlton replied. "Of all the many roles I've played in various movies, that was the one I enjoyed playing most."

A little over a month later, on May 13, a tall, gangly, ruggedly handsome man with piercing blue eyes arrived. "John Phillip Law!" Charlton exclaimed. "I remember you from 'The Hawaiians.'"

"I enjoyed playing your son in that movie," John Phillip replied. "But my favorite role of all was that of a Russian sailor named Alexei Kolchin in 'The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.' My character fell in love with an American girl named Alison Palmer, who was played by Andrea Dromm. After we finished making that movie, I never saw Andrea again. I eventually married and then divorced another woman, but I never forgot Andrea. She's still alive on earth, but when she gets here, I hope to renew my friendship with her."

"I wish you the best," said Louis. "I love seeing casual acquaintances on earth deepen into more fulfilling relationships here in heaven."

Another year passed, and on June 25, 2009, a middle-aged African-American man glided backwards into heaven.

"What a peculiar way to walk," Louis remarked with a frown.

The newcomer laughed. "It's called 'the moonwalk,'" he told Louis. "I'm Michael Jackson, and it's my signature move."

Anne could only stare open-mouthed at Michael. Although he was obviously African-American, the skin of his face was paler than that of even some Caucasians, and he wore eyeliner and lipstick. His nose also had a peculiar shape.

"I know I look different from what you'd expect," he told Anne. "I have a skin disease that made my skin lose its coloring, and I've had several operations on my nose."

"Michael!" called a woman's voice, and suddenly Princess Diana was there, embracing him.

"Diana's always been one of my closest friends," Michael told Louis and Anne. "Even though we come from very different backgrounds, we've always gotten along very well. We share a deep compassion for the underprivileged children of the world and want to improve their lives."

"Michael," boomed the voice of the Almighty. "Would you like for Me to heal you, or are you happy with the way you look now?"

"Heal me," Michael said softly. In an instant, his skin was restored to its normal deep caramel brown color, and his nose returned to its original shape. Happily Michael put his arm around Princess Diana, and the two of them walked away to explore heaven together.

Later that same day, a much quieter entrance into heaven occurred as actress Farrah Fawcett walked in. "I played many different roles over my career," she told Louis and Anne. "But my favorite one would have to be that of Beate Klarsfeld, who helped bring many Nazi war criminals to justice."

On August 11, Eunice Kennedy Shriver joined her now huge assembly of close family members in heaven, and on September 14, actor Patrick Swayze arrived.

"I have to say that my favorite movie role was that of a murdered banker in 'Ghost,'" he told Louis and Anne. "For most of the movie, I was trying desperately to protect my fiancee from the men who'd murdered me. In the end they both die and are dragged into hell, and with my fiancee now safe, I'm at last free to enter heaven."

"I remember that movie," said Anne. "Louis and I watched it together. It was so beautiful it made me cry."

"I remember," said Louis. "I enjoyed it as well. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing it again."

"I think I could watch it over and over again and never get tired of it," Anne said.

Louis and Patrick both laughed.


	96. Just Like A Fairy Tale

"I loved you in 'The Omega Man'," Michael Jackson said to Charlton Heston one day in heaven. "You know, I always wished that I could have played Richie in that movie. Even though he eventually died, I thought he was a really cool kid, and I liked him a lot."

"I wish you had as well," said Rosalind Cash, who'd been in heaven since October 31, 1995. "I enjoyed working with Eric, and he was a great on-screen little brother, but it would have been really fun to have done that movie with you, Michael."

"We could re-enact it up here any time you like," Charlton said generously.

"I'd be more than happy to play Matthias," offered John Phillip Law.

"That's one thing I've always really admired about you," Charlton told John Phillip. "You play heroes and villains equally well."

On January 11, 2010, Miep Gies arrived in heaven to be greeted by not only her husband Jan but also the Frank and van Pelt families, as well as Fritz Pfeffer. "Miep! I'm so happy to see you again!" Anne Frank cried enthusiastically, rushing to hug the newcomer.

"Miep and her husband hid all of us from the Nazis in secret rooms above an office building," Anne's mother, Edith, explained to Louis and Anne. "She risked her own life to do so, and for that we'll all be eternally grateful."

Actor Corey Haim entered heaven on March 10, 2010, and on May 28 of that year, actor Gary Coleman, who'd suffered a multitude of health problems throughout his life, arrived.

"It feels so good to be healthy at last," he announced as he strolled into heaven.

"Gary!" exclaimed Dana Plato, who'd been in heaven since May 8, 1999.

"Good to see you again, Dana," Gary told his former co-star as they embraced.

"This is my son, Tyler," Dana told Gary. Tyler, who'd arrived in heaven only twenty-two days before Gary, said hello to his mother's friend and shook his hand.

Late 2010 and early 2011 saw the arrivals of actor Leslie Nielsen and actress Anne Francis, and the spring of 2011 brought a very special day for Princess Diana.

"My Will is getting married today," she told Louis and Anne on April 29. "Won't you join me in celebration?"

"But of course!" Anne exclaimed, and Louis quickly agreed also. The next moment, all three of them watched as Prince William and Kate Middleton exchanged vows.

"This so reminds me of my own wedding!" Diana told Louis and Anne. Anne saw that her cheeks were moist with tears. "It was just like a fairy tale," Diana continued. "A real life Cinderella or Snow White. I was so young, and to me, Charles was every inch the perfect Prince Charming. I was so caught up in all the glamor and splendor that I couldn't help but think that it would last forever. But it didn't." She sighed. "That dreadful Camilla has him now, just like she's always wanted."

"He wasn't your true soul mate," Louis said gently. "That's why it didn't work out. When you _do _meet your true soul mate, and you will someday, it _will_ last forever."

"Well, anyway, I certainly hope that my Will's marriage turns out to be more successful than my own was," Diana told him.

"I feel sure it will," said Anne. "After all, Will isn't his father."

"Thank goodness for that." Diana rolled her eyes. Louis and Anne laughed.

On May 2, Osama bin Laden was killed by American soldiers acting on the order of President Obama. The Almighty quickly dispensed with him in the same manner in which the 9/11 terrorists had been dealt with.

Later that same month, On May 20, wrestler Randy Savage arrived in heaven, the victim of a heart attack. There to greet him was his first wife, Miss Elizabeth Hulette, who'd also been his manager. The two enjoyed a happy reunion as Miss Elizabeth showed Randy around heaven.

On July 8, 2011, former first lady Betty Ford joined her husband Gerald in heaven, and on July 23, twenty-seven-year-old singer Amy Winehouse arrived.

"You too, huh?" asked Kurt Cobain. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin all stood beside him.

"I always knew I'd never see my twenty-eighth birthday," Amy replied glumly.

Later that same year, another unexpected tragedy brought yet another large influx of souls into heaven.

_A/N: Any ideas about who Princess Diana's true soul mate might turn out to be?_


	97. Astronauts

On September 7, 2011, Louis and Anne watched in horror as Yak-Service Flight 9633, which was carrying the players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team, struck a tower mast, caught fire, and crashed a little over a mile from the Tunoshna Airport at the Volga River Bank in Russia. Instantly, 43 new souls appeared in heaven.

"I just don't understand how this could have happened," one of the men remarked. "The weather was absolutely perfect. There wasn't a cloud in the sky!"

"It was my fault," another man said softly.

"What?" asked a voice near him.

"I shouldn't have been flying," the man who'd spoken replied. "I was taking medication for a nerve disease and had been forbidden to fly. I falsified the necessary papers so that I could anyway. I couldn't feel my foot on the brake, and that was what caused the crash."

"I'll never play ice hockey on earth again, and it's all your fault!" another man shouted. He and several others looked ready to attack the man who'd spoken.

"Hey, leave him alone!" another of the group protested. "He died just like we did, and in addition, he'll probably have to pay penance for having caused the loss of so many innocent lives!"

"You're right about that." It was the voice of the Almighty. "While the rest of you shall be free to enjoy heaven right away, the co-pilot shall have to do penance for every year wrongfully taken from these forty-two innocent lives. Considering that most of you would otherwise have lived to be in your seventies or eighties, that's quite a few years."

Most looks of anger turned to looks of pity at those words.

A new year arrived on earth, and on February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston entered heaven to be immediately greeted by throngs of adoring fans. At their request, she sang 'All The Man I Need', 'Didn't We Almost Have It All,' 'Greatest Love Of All,' 'How Will I Know', 'I Will Always Love You,' 'One Moment In Time', 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go,' and 'You Give Good Love.'

Louis noticed that Anne was listening intently. "You really like her, don't you?" he asked.

"She's really good!" Anne exclaimed. "Her voice is so powerful, so soulful. She puts so much emotion into everything she sings. It feels like you're right there with her, feeling the same things she's feeling."

Two and a half weeks later, on February 29, former Monkee Davy Jones arrived, also to be greeted by cheering fans and requests for his songs 'Daydream Believer,' 'I Want To Be Free', and 'Shades Of Grey.'

Two more musicians, Donna Summer and Robin Gibb, entered heaven only three days apart. Donna was greeted by her many fans and asked to sing some of her biggest hits, including 'Hot Stuff', 'I Feel Love', and 'She Works Hard For The Money.'

Robin was warmly embraced by his two brothers, Maurice and Andy. "Now there's only Barry left on earth," Andy remarked.

"I know he really misses us, as we miss him," added Maurice.

"I hope that, unlike us, he has a long life on earth and remains healthy all his days," said Robin, and both his brothers nodded their agreement.

On July 23, 2012, American astronaut Sally Ride arrived, to be greeted by a person she'd never expected to meet.

"Hello, Sally. I'm Yuri," Yuri Gagarin said with a big smile as he shook Sally's hand. "It's always a pleasure to meet a fellow space pioneer."

"I've heard of you," Sally replied. "I was only ten years old when you made your historic journey. Is it true that you said you looked all around for God in space but didn't see him?"

"No, that is _not _true," Yuri said emphatically. "Someone erroneously quoted me as having said that, but I never did. I've always believed in God, although I do have to say that I never expected to meet him at such a young age."

"I remember when that happened too," said Sally. "It was so terribly sad."

"It broke my heart to leave my wife and my two little girls," Yuri agreed. "They're both highly accomplished women now. I'm so very proud of them."

"You have every right to be," said Sally.

Only a month later, Sally and Yuri were joined by Neil Armstrong. "That was the biggest leap of all," the eighty-two-year-old former astronaut quipped.

Louis and Anne thought of their own long-ago voyage through space and laughed.


	98. A Rather Quiet Year

Singer Andy Williams entered heaven on September 5, 2012, and on the first day of the following year, singer Patti Page arrived.

On April 11, 2013, John Phillip Law greeted his costar in 'The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,' Jonathan Winters. Also there to say hello were Brian Keith and Paul Ford.

"I see we're all slowly getting here, one by one," Jonathan commented wryly.

"I really enjoyed making that movie," John Phillip remarked.

"Especially when you got to kiss Andrea Dromm, no doubt," Jonathan teased.

John Phillip grinned. "No comment."

On May 31 of that year, actress Jean Stapleton arrived in heaven to be greeted by her onscreen husband, John Carroll O'Connor, who'd arrived in 2001.

On July 13, Canadian actor Cory Monteith passed away as the result of an alcohol and heroine overdose.

"Welcome to the club," John Belushi said grimly.

"It's a club I sure never wanted to belong to," Cory replied.

Irish poet Seamus Heaney entered heaven on August 30 of that year. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you in person," said Joseph Plunkett as he shook Seamus' hand. "I've always enjoyed your poetry and greatly admired your devotion to our beloved land."

"As I have always admired you and your associates," Seamus replied.

"I'm very honored to meet you as well," added Bobby Sands. "I too died for our cause, although decades later than Joseph."

"And now you've both finally received your eternal rewards," said Seamus.

On October 22, musician Lou Reed arrived, and on November 30, actor Paul Walker entered heaven, obviously badly shaken.

"I never imagined anything could ever be so painful!" he cried. "Burning to death has to be the worst possible way to die!"

"I'm sure many up here would agree with you," said Anne, standing beside Louis. "But it's all over now. You'll never have to experience pain again."

Former South African president Nelson Mandela arrived in heaven on December 5, 2013. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first person to say hello to him. "What I did for our people in the United States, you did for them in South Africa," Martin said to Nelson.

"I only wish that, like me, you'd been able to live out your entire natural life," Nelson replied.

"Oh, I don't mind that," Martin told him. "For me, the sacrifice was worth it. Come, my brother, and let me show you around heaven."

"It's been a rather quiet year, hasn't it?" Anne said to Louis as they watched the two men walk away together.

"Which is, of course, a good thing, in a way," Louis replied. He knew that, while Anne enjoyed witnessing exciting events on earth, he himself tended to cringe at the sight of suffering and bloodshed.


	99. Winter Olympics

On February 7, 2014, Louis and Anne visited earth once again, Sochi, Russia, to be specific, for the 2014 winter Olympic games. Undetected by the rest of the crowd, they watched as four snowflakes expanded to form the Olympic rings while a fifth malfunctioned. The torch was taken into the stadium and passed around, and then the Olympic cauldron was lit. Fireworks followed, and the two heavenly visitors cheered along with the others.

"It's bad enough that this event is being held on land that was formerly ours," muttered a voice close to Louis. Surprised, Louis realized that he and Anne weren't the only spectators who'd returned from the afterlife to view the games. "They could have at least represented our history and culture along with their own in the opening ceremonies."

"Who are you?" asked Louis.

"In life I was a Circassian," the man replied. "The Russians forcibly removed us from our land in the nineteenth century. I was one of a group who were journeying over the Kresnaya Polyana when they slaughtered us."

"I'm sorry," said Louis, who couldn't think of anything else to say. Anne, who'd overheard the conversation, thought of her long-ago meeting and continuing friendship with Tecumseh and concluded that the tragedy that had befallen the Circassians must have been similar to his people's misfortunes.

Upon their return to heaven on February 23, Louis and Anne found that former child actress Shirley Temple had entered heaven on February 10, and the following month saw the arrival of controversial minister Fred Phelps, who was immediately confronted by Matthew Shepard. "I'll bet you're surprised to see me here, aren't you?" the young man asked with a grin.

"How in tarnation were you allowed up here, you homosexual filth?" Fred bellowed, his eyes bugging out in rage. "The good Lord created hell specifically for perverts like you!"

"Perhaps you don't know the good Lord quite as well as you think you do," Matthew replied.

"Nonsense!" Fred roared. "I was a preacher of his holy word for fifty years!" The former minister's eyes narrowed. "You still haven't told me how you received entrance to the sacred abode of true Christians!"

"As well as Jews, and those of many other faiths," said Ariel Sharon, who'd arrived on January 11 of that year.

"Why, this must not be heaven, after all!" Fred exploded. "It must be the other place!" His look changed from rage to bewilderment. "But if that's the case, then why am _I _here?"

Everyone standing nearby burst out laughing. "I think he's got quite a few surprises in store," Louis said to Anne.

On April 6, Mickey Rooney entered heaven, and one day later, a slender blonde arrived looking confused. "How on earth did I end up here?" asked Peaches Geldof. "I only took the drugs for kicks. I didn't think they'd ever really hurt me."

"That's exactly what I thought," said Whitney Houston, who was standing nearby. "You look like you're about the same age as my daughter. I hope she's learned a lesson from what happened to me and never touches them."

On June 15, disc jockey Casey Kasem entered heaven to be greeted by throngs of musicians who wanted to thank him for having helped them to gain publicity. "I look forward to an eternity of enjoying live performances from my favorite singers," Casey said.


	100. Epilogue

"You're here because I, in my mercy, believe in second chances," the Almighty told Fred Phelps. "If not for your last minute change of heart and decision to support the Equality House, I'd already decided to have you reborn as one of those you persecuted in life, as I did with Adolf Hitler. However, in consideration of your recent change of heart, I've decided to allow you to remain here."

"That's right!" Fred exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering. "I _did _do that, didn't I?" He turned to Matthew Shepard. "Please forgive me for the web page I posted condemning you to hell. I didn't know what I was doing."

"That's all right," Matthew replied. "I actually had a good laugh about the fact that you had a web page calculating the number of days I'd been in hell when I was actually up here all the time."

Fred chuckled. "Come to think of it, that _does _seem a bit humorous, doesn't it?"

* * *

><p>"How many years have we been together now?" Louis asked Anne one day as they strolled together in one of heaven's most beautiful gardens.<p>

"Two hundred twenty-one years," she replied.

"And yet to me it sometimes seems but yesterday that I met you," he remarked.

"Sometimes I wonder..." Anne's voice trailed off.

"What is it, my love?"

"Life on earth in modern times is so radically different from the way it was in my time, or even in your time. Sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would be like if you and I were to be living on earth in the twenty-first century and were to come together in some natural way and live normal lifespans in mortal bodies together."

"Anything's possible." Louis and Anne turned to see that Albert Einstein was speaking to them. "As you know, my life's work on earth involved speculation about the true nature of time and reality. Those who are currently carrying on the work I began, such as Stephen Hawking, have postulated many fantastic theories regarding such possibilities as time travel, but I suspect that even they have only scratched the surface when it comes to the true nature of how everything in the universe operates. Some secrets may always belong to the Almighty. Speak to Him. He may be willing to grant your wish."

* * *

><p>On a typical afternoon at a child care center, a red-haired little boy and a little girl with dark brown hair were fighting over a ball.<p>

"Give it back, Henry!" the little girl shouted. "It's mine!"

"You wish." Henry smirked, holding the ball just out of her reach.

"My Mommy bought it for me!" the little girl cried.

"Well, it's mine, now," Henry said smugly. The little girl reached for the ball, but Henry shoved her roughly to the ground and then ran away laughing, leaving her in tears.

Another little boy who'd witnessed the entire interaction approached. He had a dark complexion with dark brown hair and eyes, similar to the little girl's. "Are you all right?" he asked as he helped her up.

"My knee hurts!" she wailed. "Henry's a meanie!"

"Come on." The little boy took her hand. "Let's go back inside and get your knee doctored."

"OK." The little girl sniffled and smiled gratefully. "What's your name?"

"Louis. What's yours?"

"Annie."

"Would you like to be friends?"

"Sure!" Her skinned knee temporarily forgotten, Annie beamed at her new friend.

_Many thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story. :)_


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